Bearing gifts

"Erinic please calm down honey... your eyes are changing," Michelle whispered to her husband. He blinked his eyes for a few seconds. His face tightened as he closed and opened his fist. Try as he might to calm down as his parents and wife consoled him; he couldn't help but feel a new wave of rage building up within him.

As his body trembled and his eyes blazed with more red than gold, Erinic shouted, "I will hunt that bastard down for all his crimes against my family."

Suddenly a swirling wind of black smoke engulfed the living room in darkness before quickly folding into itself.

"What is happening here," Peter asked as he attempted to shield his family from the unexpected intrusion.

As suddenly as the wind and smoke blew, it gave way to a scene of two tall slim figures, one a few inches taller than the other. Once the smoke cleared you could make out the figures more, a man and a woman now stood in front of them.

The woman looked more astonished to be in her new surroundings while the male figure had a mischievous smile lurking on his lips with red blazing eyes.

"Benara!" Michelle gasped. Then she looked at the young man holding her nanny in chains. Michelle instantly felt drawn to this figure. She wasn't sure why, and then her memories flashed to her missing baby boy. Could this be... "Drako?"

"Hello, family," he drawled. "I come bearing gifts."

"How are you here?" Mitchell asked staring at the both of them.

"Drako liberated me from Mondola, only to be shackled to him instead. " Benara replied sarcastically.

"It seems he hasn't finished the job, as you're still in chains," Michelle said pointing to the chains in Drako's hand.

"I will release them once she swears she will not run away from me," Drako said in a chilling voice.

Michelle and Eliira shivered briefly and rubbed their shoulders.

"Drako, how could you do this? Didn't she mean anything to you?" Michelle asked.

"In all honesty Michelle or should I call you mom?" he asked raising his eyebrow.

Michelle glared at him and replied," what do you think?"

"I had hoped Keliana would have told you all what happened to Benara and I after we were captured by Mondola, so you guys would be up to speed for my arrival."

All eyes then turned to Keliana standing in front of her siblings. She came closer to the living room and swallowed slowly with a sheepish grin.

"Mom, Dad... grandfather and grandmother, there was something more I needed to tell you. But lots of things happened and so I didn't get a chance to say anything." Keliana tried to explain.

"Well... what is the boy babbling about?" Peter asked.

"Grandpa, it's a bit complicated. I would have to start from the beginning..." Keliana said.

"Well... start!" Peter replied.

"Yes do start... you know how much I love to hear stories," Drako drawled as he pulled Benara to one of the available chairs to sit in.

"You don't have to keep me in chains. I swear I will not disappear. " Benara fumed shaking her shackles at Drako.

"If not you can always put her in a bubble," Caden said.

Everyone started staring at him. "Hey it's not so bad, at least she wouldn't be in chains anymore he explained.

"What do you mean by, it's not so bad?" Erinic asked gathering back his composer.

"Dad that's what I wanted to explain after grandma and grandpa arrived, I had a sense that someone or some demonic presence was in the house. I alerted Caden and then Jayden followed. As we reached near to my room, the sensation got stronger, and then the twins went and grabbed their swords from their room. We slowly entered the room and turned on the light. Then the door suddenly closed on us and a hand grabbed my shoulders scaring me. I couldn't move even if I wanted to. My brothers were rendered powerless as he placed them in a soundproof bubble of their own and was communicating telepathically with them. He then sat on my bed and compelled me to sit beside him, all the while acting like everything was okay.

Eventually, he asked about what happened to Drako. I told him the twins would be better able to tell him since they were around..."

"And all this happened while we were in the living room?" Michelle asked still holding Erinics' hand.

"Yes, mom. You and everyone else had a dad to contend with. Also, we couldn't alert you even if we wanted to... not without a fight to the death that is and it was Drako. If there was any way to save him and Benara we would take it and live with the consequences." Keliana explained.

All eyes then flashed to Drako who was still sitting and looking innocent as he stared back at everyone, then bowed his head a little and waived his hand.

"I can assure you, I would not hurt anyone until I knew the truth. If anyone lied to me, then Benara here can attest that I am no one to play with. You are either with me or against me. And I for one do hope that my own flesh and blood are with me."

"What about that conniving viperous man... Mondola? Does he know you are here?" Erinic asked.

"If he knew I was here, he would have sent his armies here already. For now, he is otherwise occupied trying to find who killed one of his guards and released his prized possession. Mind you, he will soon send Dante to look for me so we can locate the treacherous offender..."

"Dante?! As in Linos Vilpern's son?" Erinic asked.

"Yes! That's right you know Linos and Mirna." Drako replied.

"So Linos knew you were my son and didn't tell me anything," Erinic stood up shouting as his eyes started to turn orange after turning back to his natural blue earlier.

"No! ...before you go and accuse poor Uncle Linos of anything. He is clueless about who I really am. As far as he knows I was adopted by a close friend of his wife's family and became best friends with his son, who is his little angel." Drako smiled at that part remembering how angelic Dante looked when he went on his own killing spree.

"You think it's funny boy?" Peter asked as he approached the young man.

"If you saw the image in my mind just now you would think it quite hilarious comparing Dante to an angel." Drako drawled.

Peter paused not sure what to make of it. The little that he knew, Dante was very helpful when his help was required.

"Drako... what do you plan to do with us after we hear Keliana's recount of the incident in her room?" Peter asked.

"Depends on how you react or decide to treat me, you may consider me an enemy or an ally. I really hope the latter. I for one would like to know more about my family. I will, in turn, try to tell you about myself," Drako said solemnly.

Sighing deeply, Peter went to sit beside his wife Eliira. She patted his hand and said, "Why don't you tell us how you grew up with Mondola? After all, you have first-hand knowledge of what it was like."

He rubbed his chin then a dark gleam came into his eyes. If you want to hear the story. How about a little family dinner? I can smell the pork and Keliana here can't wait to eat it. So let's all relax and get oriented with each other while we eat. I do hope you have room for two more?" Drako said.

They all turned to look at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"Can you please let Benara out of her bubble? Since she was imprisoned I am sure she would love a nice warm bath and change of clothes. " Michelle said with hope in her voice.

"Well, she does smell a little off-putting, so as long as she will not disappear I can release you. But if you do run, I will find your sister and anyone else you may think of running to and believe me, you don't want me to go looking for anyone as that would be the last time they are seen alive," he warned.

"I understand," Benara replied holding out her hands to him.

With a quick snap of his fingers, the bracelets dropped from her hands to the floor. He then said a few enchanting words and the chains disappeared.

Michelle then hugged Benara joyfully, happy to have her family friend home. She then went to Drako unsure of how to greet him... finally, she just hugged him. He didn't hug her back but noted the warm feeling in his heart. He smiled at her and then stood up to walk towards his father.

They both stared at each other not sure what to do or say for a while, then Eliira came over and held each of their hands pulling them to the table.

"Drako, you sit there," pointing to one of the extra chairs they just added between Keliana and Khalisa. They set the table and ensured Benara's chair was added between Michelle's chair and Eliira's as they waited patiently for a few minutes for both Mitchelle and Benara to enter.

She was now clean and fresh and had a pair of dimples on either cheek when she smiled. Drako hadn't noticed that before. "You sure smell a lot better and clean up nicely," he smiled.

She glanced at him and smiled, "Thanks, I think," she replied.

"Great everyone is here, let the festivities begin," Eliira said.

As they sat eating, Keliana whispered to Khalisa trying to avoid Drako as they leaned behind him, "Is it just me or does dad eyes almost look as red as Drako's eyes? and how come we are just seeing this?"

"No... not you alone. Maybe it has something to do with Dad getting angry," Khalisa replied.

"But Dad got angry before and his eyes never changed before. What's so special now. This only happens when Drako is here. Why?" Keliana countered.

"I guess we will find out after diner," Khalisa answered as a sinister smile played on Drako's lips.