19. Take A Chance On Me.

Damon had informed Mariella, and she had read a lot about vampires, but this had gotten her surprised too. It had been a very rare ability. One or a few noble vampire families had been rumored to have this ability, and Damon himself had known no one who could do this. And then Mimi has this very rare ability. Now he was not sure that he could yet get that to himself. Oh, he wanted it, but could he have it? Mimi was scarily strong, and he was not sure if even Wulfe knew about this ability.

They needed to study more, and now this was just a study session in her mind. So everyone tried to find information about this ability and where Mimi had used it in time. Damon was angry, but he was also impressed and curious. So much information that he did not know where she had hidden it into her mind. 

They found nothing, even though they had been looking for two days, and deep in her mind; she had hidden that information way too well. Damon thought it might be worth asking these things when she woke up. 

I woke up, feeling a kind of groggy still, and noticed that most of the pack wasn't there anymore. Only Damon was, and he was looking at me impatiently, waiting for me to wake up. I was sluggish still, trying to wake up properly.

He said, softly but with quite damn dangerously to me, "Well, are you awake enough for us to have a conversation? I used, the whole damn pack used a lot of power and we did not find that information from your mind. Care to elaborate, dear wife? Where have you gotten this ability? How long, and can I have it?" 

I sat up a little better, and answered him, keeping my voice neutral and cool, not trying to irritate him, but I was not afraid of him either.

"I have had it ever since your wizard's test. You see, it was a test for me too. Test of my vampire side, my alpha side and what you did not know, was that I went sort of tests through too. I was measured, so to speak, by those three elder vampires and I was the most dangerous, strongest, most powerful alpha vampiress that they had ever seen."

I paused for a while, seeing now visible confusion etching itself on Damon's face. So I carried on.

" It was something that I was not supposed to say to anything to you, as it was not your business, and time would present to me when to tell you, so now, I am telling you that. That pain you felt, during that test was a pain for me losing Jake and Rob, not you. But it is still inside me and I will not deal with it. Too painful, no matter how much Pack wants to be with me and help me. Because those two were my soulmates, on a whole different level than you or even Charles will ever be. So losing them was, is the worst pain that I have ever felt, and you don't have the right to take it away. No one does."

He looked at me, a little softer now. He remembered the feeling. 

I said to him, "I give you access to my library. That is every piece of knowledge that I have in my mind. It is the library and there are my experiences in the form of books, but not my secrets. You won't find any of them, but my know-how of tactical gear, shooting, etc, and medical stuff is there too. But I won't do it too easy for you. You can have access to everything that I have read, except three books. Those are just mine. I won't give you answers. You have access, but you will have to try to find whatever you are seeking." 

Damon said, "What are those three books that you deny from me? I don't do well with that kind of information, that there is something I can't get my hands on." 

I sighed and said, "You and Mariella, you each have your own spell books, your magic books that work only for you and obey you. I have mine, three. Alpha books. I am an alpha vampire, so I have an alpha vampiress book. I am an alpha shifter, so there are books for me on that side too, and I am an alpha female, just me, so that is my third book. These books are just mine. They are not open to anyone else. No one can find them. They teach me, help me, and guide me, telling me what I can do and what not. They help in a way pack, too."

Damon frowned and said, "I bet I can get those books open, as I'm your alpha, and you had the alpha female book in time, and it was not good." 

I sighed, showing him my palm. No scar, just to remind me he was no longer my vampire husband or my vampire alpha. He visibly flinched, and regret flashed on his face. 

I said," Come on, in my mind, I show you my library, and you can study it, but nothing there is going away. I have backups, so don't bother to try to erase anything there."

I could feel him in my mind, and I opened my library, letting him in. I could feel his astonishment and his curiosity. Let's just say that the knowledge that creatures like me had gathered during all my years was quite freaking extensive, so there was a lot of stuff for him to study. All of my experiences, all that the world had taught me, they were all there. There were no memories, only stories. There were stories about bad stuff too, but I had not put very clear names to those books. No need for him to zero in on them, too.

After a while, he spoke in my mind, "Well baby, do I have access to this place always? This takes time and I am wicked curious about those alpha books. Could you maybe summon one of them, so I could even try to get it open?" 

I sighed and said, "Fine, you have access here always, but I can try to summon my shifter book. My vampire book is not coming, you are nothing to it, but maybe I could persuade my shifter book to see you as you are my alpha, pack leader, and all of that jazz." 

I focused and called out my pink fuzzy book. She liked to look like a piece on a pink carpet or blanket and even if it was a book; I thought it was her. I was not sure how these books came to be. Magic is not for me to understand and I have learned to accept it.

I had had my lessons of humility about my limits too, and it was not me to even try to understand magic or anything magical, and it was actually fine. It kept the world as a mysterious place. There was always something that I did not know and it kept me grounded, too. 

Eventually, she appeared on my lap. Damon smirked at the sight of my fluffy and pink book. I calmed it down as she took Damon's smirk as an insult and it took an hour until she was calm enough to stay put in my lap. She tried to flee several times, and I had done quite a lot of work to calm her down.

I said to Damon, "She is quite insulted by your smirking at her. So she is not impressed by you and she does not want you to touch her without cover. She does not want to feel the touch of your filthy fingers. Her words, not mine." 

Damon said to that book, "My apologies. I was trying to be a charmer here. It is not every day one meets a book as exceptional as you, my dear. "

My book spit out a brief note in bed. 

Damon took it and read, it said, "Flattery and false one will get you nowhere man. I dislike you,"

He was quite surprised and his brows rose quite high as he pondered my book's temperament.

I could not help but smile at Damon's expression. I took a thin plastic bag and placed it over the book.

And said to Damon, "Here, she is letting you keep her in your hands, but you may touch her only with that plastic."

Damon took my plastic-covered book. He closed his eyes and I could see that he tried to caress my book, seduce it, massage it, make it react to his touch, same time use his telepathy to talk to it. It took time. The book did not open up, but it stayed put and let him caress it.

Then he gave the book back, looked at me smiling mysteriously, and said, "She is cool, she helps the pack, it is actually a collective, of ancient spirits of shifter women throughout the whole history, they have a sort of form this book, given its personality. They are very feministic and not impressed by men, but I told them I respect them and try nothing funny. They told me you have a secret, one you have never revealed to anyone, and it is not bad, as such, but secret anyway. How about it baby, care to show me?"

My book told me to reveal my mark. 

As he had in time gone through those wizard tests, I had mine, too. I never told him I saw his last test, his choices, and the consequences of those choices when he and all our pack wizards were given one bright white or silver strand of hair, I got mine too, marking me as alpha, I had a lock of pure gold, on my right side of my hair, and then one pitch black on the left side, marking my duality, as vampire and shifter, alpha on both occasions.

I had always kept these hidden. Not show them even my five, or no one. But my book told me to reveal them to Damon and be proud of them. Not sure what it would bring forth. I had learned in time to hide in shadows, not be in the limelight, not tell the world just how strong I am. 

Damon gently returned my book to me, the sound of the pages rustling in the air. I peeled off the protective plastic cover, feeling the smoothness of the book's furry surface beneath my fingertips. Absentmindedly, I began to stroke it, comforted by its presence.

In a quiet whisper, the book urged me to take action. It insisted that it was time to pack to get to know the true me, to discover my true identity, promising that it would be a positive revelation. Uncertainty gripped me, doubting what lay ahead, knowing that envy would surely accompany this newfound knowledge. Yet my book's voice persisted, compelling me to proceed. It told me that secrets were not always useful. It was time for everyone to accept me fully.

Reluctantly, I released my grip on the book, watching as it vanished from my hands. I turned to Damon, finally ready to reveal a secret I had guarded since his wizards' test.

With a deep breath, I confessed, "Ever since your test, I've kept this secret hidden. You see, I too underwent tests, mostly conducted by vampire elders, and I passed them all."

I let my protection vanish. As I spoke, my hair transformed. On the right side, a golden lock radiated warmth akin to a summer's day, while on the left, my pitch-black lock exuded a coolness reminiscent of a moonlit night. Damon's expression shifted from surprise to awe as he reached out to touch my black lock, realizing that it marked me as an alpha vampire.

His eyes conveyed a mixture of admiration and something else, something I couldn't quite discern.

Softly, he questioned, "So you possess these marks as well, yet you've never shown them to anyone. Why?"

I replied, my voice steady, "It was my choice to keep them hidden, a way to set myself apart from the pack, to showcase my true power. I know many pack members, particularly the females, will be envious of my status as an alpha vampire, alpha shifter, and alpha female, even without visible marks. But these transformations reveal my duality."

Damon's hand moved to my golden lock, sensing a connection to it.

He spoke with admiration, "You truly are remarkable. You're right, Mariella will struggle with this revelation. She sees herself as stronger than you, simply because of her mark. Don't hide these marks, they are beautiful. I can't wait to see how we can incorporate them into different styles. I've only encountered one alpha vampiress before. She was old and not too bad, a loner, much like you. But she was hideous, unlike you. And as for being an alpha shifter, you're the first."

Silence fell upon us as his words sank in.

Damon studied my expression for a moment before suggesting, "How about this? If I challenge you, would you perform your blood ritual on me? Let me experience your hints and see what it's like. Are you up for the challenge? Nick was not a powerful telepath. I am not so easy. "

I looked at him and asked, "What do you propose? I am not looking for trouble here, and you might react wrong when you realize how strong I am." 

Damon snorted and said, "It is simple. I want to test your power, so you do it by putting the commandments in your blood, the three commandments. We make a deal. You are to write what you put in your blood on a piece of paper and I will put a spell on it, for five days and all I have to do is try to find your clues. Five days. And baby, make your blood tasty for me. I want to taste it." 

I sighed, and I was ready. He handed me a piece of paper and I wrote what I put in my blood. I made nothing weird, just little things that would make my life a little bit easier, to stop him from pestering me about my powers. 1. you're going to fuck Mariella and fuck her hard and it's perfect. 2. my power isn't interesting at all and you don't want to know more. 3. I'm not interesting at all and you don't want me. 

I handed him that note, and he sealed it and put it in his pocket. Then he came closer. Well, I did bite in my lower lip, letting one drop of blood smell in the air, he was at me as fast, slamming his fangs in my throat and draining me fast and brutally, he moaned from the pleasure, as he tasted my nectar from my veins. 

As he drained me, I could feel my mind shutting down, but all of my little hints were now inside him. As darkness took me, my last thought was at least I get some time of my own, being pregnant and feeling these babies better than any previous pregnancies. We had a special bond formed already.

Damon dropped his prey. He was in ecstasy and now he wanted to go and fuck Mariella's brain out and he really did not go to listen to any objections. Mariella was little supposed by his passion, but as good as Damon was, she found nothing wrong with their passion. Damon was now so damn gorgeous and any thoughts of Mimi or whatever she and Damon had done, was now fully irrelevant. Damon was hers, full on, and she was not in the mood for sharing. Not at all. She was pregnant, feeling wonderful, and as normally, her libido was sky high. Everything was as perfect as it could be. She did not notice anything wrong with Damon.