Chapter 44 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Jazz is motionlessly in front of me, his face is twisting from one expression to another, and he is not saying a single word.  However, that does not really matter because Shadow has his ice cold hand on my face and I can actually hear everything that Jazz is thinking.  Which has to be one of the most bizarre and maddest things that I have ever experienced in my life!!  Jazz suddenly thinks about Sunny, because he can hear him approaching this room on his way back, which really seems to annoy Jazz as he snaps open his phone in irritation.  He just wants rid of him for some reason.

"I have found Shadow, the panic is over!!  Shadow is okay and I am staying with him, so you can go home now.  I have seen enough yellow for one day!!" 

Jazz snaps quite angrily into his phone, then stands listening to whatever Sunny is saying.  I can tell he is losing his temper, from the thoughts flashing through Jazz's head.  I think Sunny and Honey are totally getting on his nerves and driving him mental for some reason.   

"JUST GO HOME Sunshine!!  Shadow is going to bed now anyway and I'm not in the mood to be entertaining you for the rest of the night.  Come back tomorrow when I am in a better mood!!"

I worry for a moment, why does he want to send Sunny away, is it so that he does not witness me being here, I have stupidly walked into this place and nobody has a clue where I am.  Jazz snaps his phone shut and stuffs it back into his pocket.

All the time he was on the phone to Sunny Jazz had not taken his eyes off me.  It is irritating the hell out of Jazz that he can not hear the thoughts going through my mind, and he does not have the slightest inkling about me hearing what is going through his, with both me and Shadow being totally silent to him.  He remains there again just silently staring back at me as I continue to stare at him through slightly blurred vision.  I am waiting for his reaction, and while I am listening to what is flying quickly through his mind, surprisingly I find that I can start to relax a little.

Hearing what he is actually thinking, really surprises me ... shocks me even!!  He has no intention of hurting me.  In a way, me being here, and he presumes I have uncovered the truth, is kind of a great relief to him.  He no longer has the headache of trying to hide this from me, and especially Shadow, which was becoming a total nightmare for him because of Honey.  Hiding the truth from Shadow, he thinks, was always going to be impossible, especially with the way that Honey has been acting, continually throwing my name around for the boy to hear.  Keeping us apart was also going to be a struggle, he does not know now why he thought at the beginning it might have been remotely possible.

There is one thing that is bothering him and stopping him from opening his mouth, because he does not know why I am here or what I know.  He thinks about me being colour blind and is not sure if I do actually realize the boy is my son.  He is wandering if I have just wandered into the den looking for River and stumbled upon the boy by accident.

All Jazz really seems worried about at the moment, is that I am going to take Shadow away from him.  I am amused that the vampberry, is only really annoyed that we are now together, because he seriously loves Shadow like a Father does and is scared that he is going to lose him.  Shadow is his only shot at being someones Dad and he thinks I am going to storm in here and ruin it, because once Shadow finds out the truth, if he does not already know, me being here is going to change everything. 
 

His thoughts are really amusing me, because I am not sure that Jazz is even thinking straight right now!!!  How can I take the boy away from here when he is a vampberry and can not live in my world.  And I thought I was the only idiot around here!!

Although, if I had not sat for the past month thinking all the what if's through properly in my head - what if he is my son - what if he is a vampberry - I think I would be acting completely differently now.  I probably would have just steamed in, been kicking off and stupid enough to think I can take Shadow home with me.  However, as much as I wish I could take him home,  I know I have no other choice but to leave him living here with Jazz.

"Tappy came to find Shadow!"  Shadow says suddenly  "He likes me, not like nasty Honey!!"

"Give me ... my boy Tap."  Jazz says, totally ignoring what Shadow has just said to him, as he steps closer to me holding out his hands.  Shadow speaking seems to have prompted Jazz into actually saying something.  Jazz calling him his boy, this riles me a little and makes my head snap.

"The last time I looked, it is my name that is on his birth and fake death certificate, not yours!!  So he is not your boy at all is he Jazz!! I KNOW this is MY Shadow"  I almost yell at him  "You had NO RIGHT to take him and hide him from me!!"

"Tap give him to me and we can talk about this calmly!!"

Jazz actually is genuinely upset, not angry, which continues to surprise me.  I seriously never expected this reaction.  He hates it that I actually do know the truth and he is also worried that I might go off on one, and have an outburst, while I am holding Shadow, and there is nobody around with any sedative to stop me.  He tries to take Shadow off me.

"No."  I step backward and away from him  "I will lose it if you take him off me!!  I am holding Shadow ... you just start talking!!  I want to know why you are hiding Honey and MY SON from me and how the HELL did they get to be blood sucking monsters like you?!"  I snap at him.

"First I want to know how you found out?  Who told you?"  Jazz frowns at me.

I hear him thinking that only earlier Sunny had told him that he thought that I still did not have a clue, about Shadow being my son.  I had stopped mentioning the night in the cemetery, so they thought I had forgotten about it.  Jazz is now confused, he thinks that one of the spirits might have told me, or I could have been poking around in Sunny,s head and found out.  Him thinking that makes me wish I had now, because if I had taken a look into Sunny's head, I would have seen all this from the start, especially Honey and Shadow being here.  Why did I not think of doing that once I became suspicious!!  Why do I keep forgetting about this unusual ability that I have?!  How good an actor is Sunny to be hiding this from me all this time??!!

"Nobody told me, I worked it out.  Obviously it was because of that night in the cemetery, I did not believe it was a drunken hallucination like they kept telling me it was.  Everyone was protesting and trying to convince me that the boy was not real, just a little too much!!"  Jazz rolls his eyes  "About a month back, when I was in Sandy Shores, Shadow phoned me from your phone."  I laugh  "You and Cos thought he was trying to talk to his cat, but he had actually dialed my number and spoken to me, I was listening to your conversation."

I laugh as I listen to his mind doing somersaults.  I pull out my phone and find the photograph of Shadow from that night in the cemetery and hold my phone out to him, so that he can see it.

"Besides you can not take photographs of drunken hallucinations can you!"  I laugh at him  "It was not too hard to work out when the boy looks so much like me at this age that a friend and my Dad thought it was a photograph of me!!  The boy has my hair, has the same name and colouring as my son that is supposed to be buried in the cemetery.  That night Shadow told me a few thing while we were talking that helped me to piece it all together."

Jazz's eyes widen as he takes my phone off me and stares at the photograph of Shadow.  As he hands me back my phone, he laughs quietly to himself, that is when he notices Shadow has his hand on my face which distracts him away from me.  Jazz is now staring suspiciously at Shadow and I can hear him wandering what he is doing, confused as to why he would be in my head and what he might be doing in there.

"Shadow?  What are you doing?"  he frowns at the boy  "Why have you got your hand on Tapestry's face?"

"Me's ... showing Tappy?"  Shadow mumbles

"Showing Tapestry what Shadow?"  Jazz frowns at him

"What you is thinking."  he mumbles quietly as he removes his hand from my face and hides his head in my chest.  This makes me laugh as I hug him.

"WHAT?!"  Jazz looks really confused.  "Shadow how can you be showing Tapestry what I am thinking?"  Shadow stays silent and refuses to speak 

"Shadow told me he can hear what all you vampberry's are thinking, just like you can hear most mortals.  I have just been listening to everything you have been thinking."  I grin at him cheekily  "Don't worry, I am not going to take Shadow away from you.  As much as this annoys me, I know I have to leave him here with you, with him being a vampberry, I don't have a choice to let you continue playing Daddy do I!!"  Jazz's eyes widen a little before he smiles at me.  He has just had his proof that I have been hearing his thoughts.

Jazz asks Shadow how long he has been hearing vampberry thoughts as he frowns at the boy in confustion.  Shadow is still hiding himself and is not speaking, not even after Jazz asks him again, he remains there refusing to speak as he hides his face against me.

"I think he was too scared to tell you in case you got mad with him and sent him away."  I explain.

Jazz looks shell shocked for a moment.  Shadow has removed his hand from my face so I can no longer hear what he is thinking, all I can do is watch the expressions flashing across his face.

"Shadow I would NEVER send you away!!"  he says as he stares at the boy

"Is me a naughty boy Daddy?"  Shadow asks Jazz, which makes me laugh, the way he just asked that I found really cute, like he is a good boy and cares about not being naughty.  However, I don't like him calling Jazz Daddy.

"No Shadow!!  You have done nothing wrong!!"  he starts laughing at the boy.  "You hearing vampberry's is just another one of your Special Boy abilities."  Shadow starts grinning then

"Me's a Special Boy!!"  Shadow tells me dramatically while he grins at me. "Me's an Original vampy!"  I frown at him because I do not understand what he means by that.

"HELL  This just keeps getting better and better!!"  Jazz says then he starts to laugh  "That boy is seriously on another level and I thought you was something else Tapestry!!"  he starts laughing and I frown at him in confusion.  "Not even the Originals can hear what us vampberrys are thinking Tap!!  Just like with you being silent to vampberrys and Originals, but you are not silent to Shadow!!"  he stares at Shadow wide eyed.  "You will be amazed when I explain to you what he is and everything that he is capable of!!"

"Me hears everybody!"  Shadow mumbles  "Storm and Cos is coming."

Shadow points to the wall then hides his head again.  Jazz stands frowning at Shadow for a moment, and I think it takes a while for him to process what the boy is actually trying to tell him.

"Not possible!!"  Jazz is now staring at the boy wide eyed again.  "Shadow please tell me you can also hear what the spirits are thinking?"

"Yes me hears them."   he holds his hand out "You wanna listen?"  he grins at Jazz.

Jazz leans towards us and his eyes are nearly popping out of his head when Shadow places his hand on his cheek.  I laugh as he places his other hand on mine.  I suddenly hear two sets of thoughts jumbled together in my head, Cosmic and Storm's.  Cosmic's thoughts disappear for a while and I only hear Storm's, then they switch so Storm's disappear and only Cosmic's are there, but all the time I do not hear Jazz's thoughts at all.  It amuses and amazes me that Shadow can switch their thoughts on and off almost like he is changing radio channels.

Storm and Cosmic float through the wall, exactly where Shadow indicated they would, which makes Jazz burst into hysterical laughter as he stares at them both in amazement.  Cosmic and Storm both stop suddenly, they are both shocked, when they spot me standing here holding Shadow.

Shadow has shut off Cosmic's thoughts, so all we can hear is Storm, who is just floating in mid air continuously swearing in his head as he stares wide eyed at me.  I seriously wish that I had this ability, I am quite liking listening to what everyone is thinking!!

"Naughty swearin!!"  Shadow tuts which amuses me.  "Me no do nasty swearin!!"

"That's because Shadow is a good boy!!"  Jazz ruffles his hair as he laughs at Shadow  "Unlike Storm who has a fowl mouth and is a naughty boy for swearing!!"  Jazz turns to Storm and his face drops  "What have I told you about using language like that around Shadow!!"  he snaps.

Cosmic and Storm just stand there now looking highly confused as they stare at each other in disbelief.  Storm is now wandering if he actually swore out loud and Cosmic, who we can now also hear, is thinking Jazz has gone completely mad because Storm did not even speak.

Jazz starts to laugh at them as he explains what is going on, that Shadow can hear their thoughts and we were just listening to them..  Shadow still has his hand on my face and I can still hear what Storm is thinking, he is not really listening to what Jazz and Cosmic are talking about, as he continues to stare and worry about how mad I am with him for hiding Shadow's existence away from me.

Shadow removes his hand suddenly as he bolts up and scowls at Storm for a second, I think he was worried by how quickly Storm came at us.  Storm who jumps straight in and tries to mumble an apology to me.  I watch as Jazz and Cosmic exchance a glance before Cosmic sits down on the couch and puts his head in his hands, I wander why.

"Just get lost Storm, I don't even want to see or speak to you or Cos right now for hiding this from me!!"  I snap at him nastily  "I can not believe that YOU of all people hid Shadow from me!!  What happened to our no secrets?!  Shadow and Honey have been here all along and you have blatantly lied to me!!"

"I really am sorry Tap!!  I really had no choice, we were trying to do the right thing, and what we thought is best for both you and Vanilla!!"

"You call this right!!  Hiding Shadow from me!!"  I snap at him  "You have sat and watched me and my messed up head getting upset over this boy and you have continued to let me think Honey and Shadow had faded!!"  I snap at him  "When all along they have been here and you knew!!  I am seriously sick of being kept in the dark, everyone is still treating me like an idiot, it is never going to change is it!!  Hiding my son from me and telling me he faded  ... this seriously is the worst one yet!!" 

"Mate, it was your Dad's decision, he wanted to protect you and Vanilla from this world!!  He did not want you to have to live with having to hide Honey and Shadow's existence from everyone, especially Vanilla.  He thought you would not handle knowing that Shadow was here like this, and especially not what Honey has become.  He did not want you being tied to this world which might ruin the rest of your life.  You know what your Dad's like, he still is trying to wrap you in cotton wool!!"

"He has got a damn nerve after the fuss he kicked up over Maizie hiding River from him, and now he is doing it to me!!"  I snap at Storm  "Who else knows about Shadow being here?  Is my Dad coming here to visit Shadow like Sunny?"

"No, your Dad, River, Winter and Mulberry have all had Shadow and Honey being here and vampberry's wiped from their memory.  They believe the same story that you have been told.  Besides us spirits and vampberry's, there is only actually Sunny who knows the whole truth and visits Shadow."  he rolls his eyes

"I want to see Honey."  

"Tap you seriously don't!!  When you see what she has turned into, you will wish she had faded!!  She's unpredictable, uncontrolable and pure evil, so bad we are having to keep her locked up in a cage!!"  he pulls a face  "She is horrible since she turned, she has lost all her mortal emotions and is not the Honey you are used to!!"

I go quiet as I think about what he has just told me.  What gets to me most, I seriously can not believe that my Dad knowingly made this decision to hide the boy away from me!!  Then he clears his own conscience by having the boy wiped away!!  I am not sure I know how I feel about this!!  Shadow starts to pull on my jacket to attract my attention. 

"You sees Storm?"  Shadow stares at me wide eyed.  "Is Storm your friend?"

"Yes Storm is my friend, and Cosmic and Saffy too"  I laugh at him.

"WOOOOW!!! Tappy can sees and speaks to spirits like vampy's!!"  Shadow says really dramatically, telling Jazz like he does not know already.  He is there with his eyes wide and his mouth open like he is sucking in air.  This makes us all laugh, I am very amused by the word vampy's.  "Daddy is Tappy a Special Boy like me, cause Lime and Gangy don't see ghosties!!"

"Yes Shadow he is."  Jazz laughs at the boy

"Seriously Jazz I need to see Honey!!"  I glare at Jazz, the smile washes off his face.  "Where is her cage?  I want to know what she is playing at letting this vampberry thing happen!!"

"Tap this is not actually her fault."  Jazz pulls a face at me. 

"So come on Jazz, if you say this is not her fault, you tell me ... HOW did Honey and Shadow get to be vampberry's?!"  I snap at Jazz

"Tap, it was purely an accident, well Shadow was.  Honey, she is a whole different story ...."

Jazz starts to explain to me what happened the night that Celeste's guards sneaked down here and drained me and Honey. When they got down to us Honey was about to take her last breath so Jazz bit her to keep her alive long enough to get her to my Dad so he could give her the blood she needed and have the venom sucked out of her system before it took a hold of her.  This I have heard before.

Then he tells me everything that I have never heard before.  While Maizie successfully removed all the venom out of Honey's system to stop her from turning into a vampberry, however, something went wrong that they never expected and were not prepared for.  Some of the venom took a hold of one of the babies and turned the fetus into a vampire.  They realized this had happened when one of the babies heart beats stopped, but Jazz and Mazie could still hear both of the babies.  Shadow has developed, grown and was born as a vampberry, which in itself, is a one off, he has never seen or heard of it happen before, he did not even know it was possible.

I am confused, and ask how they managed to hide the pregnancy and birth from everyone, as well as fake them fading.  He explains that Honey lived as a mortal until the babies were born and she was kept in my room in the basement.  This helped to keep her away from everyone as well as giving Jazz access to her, him hiding out in the apartment that they were building, and the dangers of the building work going on was the reason why nobody was allowed down there.  My Dad, Winter, Mulberry and Sunny were the only ones aware of what was really going on.  To my Mother and everyone else Honey was just having a normal pregnancy and everyone thought she was just distraught over me still being missing and refusing to see anyone, which was actually how she was behaving and it really helped them to cover up what was really happening with the pregnancy.

At first they did not expect the vampire baby to survive or even develop and grow into a normal baby like he did.  The pregnancy was hell because of the vampire baby, he was taking too much out of Honey, she was weak and constantly in pain, when that baby moved or kicked he did it with force, he even broke bones.  They were having to get Honey to constantly drink blood because they thought it would help the vampire baby to stop taking so much out of Honey.  They never expected either of the babies or Honey to survive to the end of the pregnancy, especially the normal baby, but by some miracle all three of them did and both babies developed perfectly.  The birth was horrific and basically what claimed Honey's life.

I am a little shocked, when he tells me that we are lucky that Vanilla came first, because Honey was not getting through the birth of the second child, the vampire baby.  The pregnancy had taken way too much out of her and she was too weak and fading.  Jazz ended up having to turn her, before Shadow was born.  If Vanilla had been the baby still inside Honey then she would have become a vampberry too and I would have ended up with two vampire children.  That is if Vanilla had survived through the transformation, from mortal to vampire, which he doubted a babies body would be able to endure.  My Dad had to perform a make shift C Section to get Shadow out, after Jazz had bitten her and after the turning process had started.  He also explains that Sunny was the one responsible for Honey being turned, Jazz and Dad both all but begged Sunny to let her go, but he wouldn't have it, he chose to have her turned.

He makes a point of telling me that obviously with Shadow and Honey being vampberry's, they had no choice but to hide their existence.  They made the decision to hide Honey and Shadow from me for quite a few reasons, which he explained to me, and while I can sort of understand their reasons, I am still not happy about it and think them hiding especially Shadow from me, was far from right!!

He hesitates for a moment before he explains how they covered up them fading.  Obviously, Dad and Winter were the one's present at the birth, and they both went through hell, trying to keep Honey and the normal baby alive without any of the proper equipment.  However they managed until it was evident after Vanilla arrived that Honey was on her way out.  As soon as she was born Ice and Mulberry had to rush Vanilla to the hospital because of her being a little on the early side, they came a month before they were due.  Obviously having to turn Honey and with Shadow being born a vampire, nobody could see them.  Dad and Winter both being surgeons and professionals, pronounced and certified them both faded in a medical capacity paperwork wise, so nobody else needed to see their body's to confirm it, so their bodies did not even go to the hospital.

Honey who was now going through the turning process, looked and appeared faded to the mortal eye, she was already turning cold, no longer breathing as well as her heart was no longer beating, so she was not so much of a problem.  Ruby and Strawberry actually went down to see her after everyone had been told she had passed away during the birth.  So they actually helped to confirm she had faded.

Shadow was the problem, even being a vampire he was a normal kicking screaming baby that they had to get straight out of the house quickly before anyone heard or saw him, which they managed to do and he was brought straight here.  I ask him how they managed to do it and he tells me that luckily it was night time, Winter went through the pretense of taking up a load of blood stained sheets to throw them away in the rubbish bin outside before they broke the news about Honey and Shadow fading.  Shadow was asleep in the middle of the sheets after a feed and Omri was hiding and waiting outside and he took the baby to the den.  He laughs a little, saying that from then on Shadow was a doll, that Winter had slyly acquired from the hospital beforehand, a life like baby doll that they use in maternity.

"A doll?  I don't get it ... how did you get away with that, surely someone would have had to have seen him."

"Your Dad and Sunny went with the 'bodies' which were taken straight to the undertakers."  he glances over at Cos and Storm  "Your Dad kept a hold of the covered baby, and he acted a little neurotic, you know like the distraught Grandparent.  He kept the body covered and wouldn't let anyone touch it.  You know your Dad has a lot of clout in this town, so they bent over backwards to do what he asked, he made them let him put the baby straight into his coffin, which he had them nail shut straight away.  As far as everyone is concerned, that baby ... he was born badly deformed and that is why he did not live, they all think that we are hiding that fact from you by telling you he was stillborn.  The lie about him being deformed was for them, it stopped anyone from seeing the baby because your Dad told them all that nobody was seeing him, that baby was not going to be turned into a freak show."  he rolls his eyes  "A few of Honey's siblings requested to see her, Sunny and your Dad managed to talk them out of it thankfully, telling them it would spoil their memory of her ... Saffron was the one who kicked up the most fuss, I thought at one point they were never going to stop him!!"  This makes me laugh a little.  "Cosmic stayed with the 'bodies' permanently to make sure nobody opened either coffin.  We switched Honey's body out of the undertakers later that night, with the help of the spirits and two days later those coffins were in the ground."

"So there is a doll baby buried under Shadow's headstone."  he laughs and nods  "Honey's coffin?  You said you switched her body out.  Was there a body in her coffin when you buried it?"

I frown at him and he looks nervously over at Cosmic for a moment.  He just stares back at me saying nothing, probably deciding on wether to lie to me or not.  I think I already know, by the look on his face, what the answer to my question is going to be!

"I WANT THE TRUTH!!"

"Errmm there is a body in that coffin ... we ... errrr, lets just say, she was homeless."

"WHAT!?"  I yell at Jazz  "Tell me you did not faded someone to put in Honey's coffin?!"

"Tap please don't kick off!!"

Cosmic and Storm, who have been sat on the nearby couch, fly across the room towards us, prompted by my yelling.  I guess they must think that I am going to go off on one and I probably would have done if I was not holding Shadow.

"We had no choice!!  We had to put a body in that coffin when we took Honey's out.  If we had left it empty it would have been noticed when they moved it for the funeral."  he rolls his eyes  "Maizie went out to Apple Valley and found a yellow homeless girl ... she was homeless, it is not like anyone is going to miss her ..."

"JAZZ THAT IS NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!"  I snap angrily  "Just because she was homeless, it does not mean she did not have a right to live!!  You had no right to fade an innocent girl just so that you could cover up your damn mess!!" 

I am horrified!!

All that I can think about, because that girl was homeless, is Denim and Pheonix.  The poor innocent girl probably just had a tragic story to tell like they do, like she has not suffered enough, and they have to go out and hack her down and probably painfully draining the life out of her.  I already know that the vampberry's out in the coded world prey on the homeless to feed, but the vampberry's in this town are supposed to be different!!  For them to go out and hunt down a yellow girl just so that they can use her body to fill Honey's coffin ... it makes me feel sick!! 

"I'm sorry Tap!!  It was the only way that we could do it."

Cosmic pushes Jazz out of the way, mumbling to Jazz that he is making a right hash of it.  Cosmic knows me as well as Storm does and I think he can see how worked up, upset and angry that I am getting.  He knows like I do, if anyone here is going to calm me down, it is him.

"Look Tap, it is not as bad as you think ...."  Cosmic says quietly, but does not get to finish his sentence because I jump straight in and cut him off.

"How the hell can you say that Cosmic!!"  I snap at him  "You know how I feel about the homeless people.  It is bad enough that girl being on the streets, without Maize going and hacking her down just for their convenience!!"

"Tap do not think it was an easy decision for us to make!!  If we could have found another way we would, we could not just magic up a body instantly because we needed one!!"  he smiles at me  "You know we are all in this immortal world because our lives were hacked down and cut short, so it is not something that we did lightly!!"  he sighs before he rolls his eyes then laughs sarcastically  "You might guess, it was Sunny who stuck his big wooden spoon in it!!  Sunny just sprung this mess on us at the very last minute.  Honey passing had been discussed in depth and Sunny had agreed that if Honey's life was cut short by this pregnancy then he would just let her go."  he rolls his eyes  "Obviously he couldn't, at the last minute he started to kick off and demanded Jazz turn her.  We literally had no time to think, if we had had more time and were better prepared, we probably would have found another way.  We were prepared for Shadow, but not Honey, we literally only had a few hours to sort it out, otherwise it would have blown the whole thing apart."

I just stare at him for a moment

"When Maizie faded the girl it was instant she did not feel a thing."  he smiles at me  "I was there when she faded, I stayed with the girls body, never taking my eye off her for a second, and I think you might know why."  I stare at him wide eyed.  "When her spirit left her body, I was there and I stopped her from passing over."  he smiles at me  "I said it is not as bad as you think Tap because Glimmer is here.  She is in my world, she chose to stay and is quite happily living here in this den with us."

"Her spirit is here!!"  I start to choke

"Yes, we have just kept her hidden from you, Vanilla and Crystal.  Glimmer doesn't visit you like the rest of us and we just don't talk about her."  he smiles at me  "She is actually quite happy to be where she is now, she thinks this existence is better than her last one."

"It still does not make what you did right!!"  I laugh sarcastically  "You still robbed her of her mortal life which might have got better given the chance!"

Shadow who has been silent up to now starts pulling on my jacket again.  I have noticed that he keeps doing that now to attract my attention, which amuses and puzzles me.

"Glimmer is my friend!  She's a nice lady, not like Honey and Maizie!"  Shadow grins at me and I just stare at him. "Glimmer likes Shadow and Cosmic thinks she is pretty!"

"That boy of yours, just like his sister, suffers from motor mouth and he needs to keep out of my head!!"  Cosmic starts laughing as he tickles Shadow who starts giggling.

I just stand there numb, not knowing what to think anymore as my brain is swimming with everything that Jazz and Cosmic have both told me, especially the homeless girl.  There is just too much for me to take in all at once.  I can not help but keep thinking about Honey being down in the basement and everything that she went through while I was away.  I am not sure I am ever going to get my head around any of this without seeing and speaking to her.  Shadow just lies his head on me, I wander what he is thinking, I wander if he has heard any of this before, or even understands it.

When I tell Jazz again that I want to see Honey, it does not go down too well.   Jazz, Storm and Cosmic all try to talk me out of it, but I start to lose my temper and they give in.  Jazz sends Cosmic down to bring her up from the basement.

Shadow seems to get a little restless at the mention of Honey coming up here and he starts saying he does not like Honey and asks to see Lime.  Jazz tells him he can see Lime later, after I have gone home, if she is not asleep, and the boy goes quiet again.  I am a little puzzled by Shadow and Limes relationship, not understanding how the boy can appear to like such an evil woman more than he appears to like his own Mother.

"You know I do not even like the idea of him being around Manderine!!"  I frown at Jazz 

"Oh Berry you are never splitting those two up!!  Lime is basically Shadow's Mother!!"  Storm laughs at the face that I pull  "Lime and Honey have basically switched personalities."

While I frown at him in confusion he starts to explain that Lime is not the person that she used to be.  I will not recognize the nice, pleasant person that she has become when I do see her.  They think that Shadow has helped to change her into a better person.

When Shadow arrived it was pretty obvious from the start that both Honey and Maizie wanted nothing to do with the boy, but Lime became broody.  Jazz never had any intention of Shadow going anywhere near Lime, but took him down into the basement without thinking while he was searching for Omri.  She asked to see the baby and he was surprised, as well as curious, with her maternal thoughts.

Lime was actually the first person Shadow tried to drink blood from and after that they used Lime as a guinea pig to judge his blood craze by, with him being a new vampire he was trying to bite Sunny and Lime at any opportunity he got.   His blood craze did not last for very long and he only bit her badly a few times, but the visits became a regular thing.  Lime was constantly asking to see him, she became attached to the baby very quickly, and it got to the point when sometimes, especially when he was teething, only she could settle him down, stop him from crying and get him to sleep.

Jazz thinks that when Shadow was a baby he liked the warmth of her body and the sound of her heart beating, something that he would have actually been used to when he was growing inside the womb, and Lime gave him the Motherly comfort that he needed.  He has noticed that Shadow seems to bond better with mortals, Lime and Sunny, than he has with everyone else.  The visits were keeping both Shadow and Lime happy as well as Shadow was getting the Motherly figure that he needed, which he definitely did not have in Honey.

At first Lime and Shadow were never left alone, there was always someone with them, and she along with Jazz helped to teach him to walk and talk.  It is Lime who has taught him how to read and write, his colours, how to count, amongst other things.  Shadow now spends more time down in Limes cage than he does up here, they even eat all their meals together and sometimes he sleeps down in the cage with her at night. 

I am a little surprised when Jazz tells me that her cage is no longer locked, they keep the door at the top of the basement steps locked instead.  She has the run of the whole basement now, but it is very rare that she ever ventures out of her cage, generally only when she is running around and playing with Shadow. 

"She is actually turning into a really nice person now that everyone gets on with, except for Honey."  Jazz smiles at me  "Even soft lad here is starting to like his own Mother!!  He spends hours down there just watching her, I'll tell you."  he laughs at Storm  "I have sat for hours listening to her thoughts, especially when she doe not realize I am there doing it.  All the nastiness, has virtually gone, the only time I hear any, verbally or in her thoughts, it is usually directed at Honey, who has usually asks for it.  I think Lime understands what she has done to everyone, and is even sorry for what she has done." 

I laugh sarcastically thinking I bet she will tear strips out of me the first time she lays her eyes on me.  She blames me for Storm, Forrest and Pines demise, so I doubt she will ever be pleasant with me.   

"Seriously Tap, she loves the bones of that boy!!  Me and Lime are his substitute parents and Lime and Shadow being together, you seriously don't have to worry about it, which you will soon see for yourself."

"And Honey?"

"She refuses to have anything to do with Shadow, and it has been like that since the day he was born.  Now I keep him as far away from her as possible.  She has done things to him purposely trying to hurt him and I can not trust her with him."  I stare at him wide eyed, I am shocked.  "Unfortunately Honey is now what Lime used to be, actually she is worse!!"  he laughs quietly  "Honey would actually give the devil a run for his money!!  Be prepared Tap, when she gets up here, it is not going to be pretty!!"

"Honey no like Shadow!!  Me no like her she's NAAAASTY!!  She faded my cat!!"  Shadow says dramatically waving his little arms around.  "Me's a mini Tappy with teeth she says."

Storm and Jazz just stand there really laughing, while I really don't like what I am hearing.

"Tap ... maybe I should take Shadow for a bit.  Is the cold not bothering you?"  Jazz frowns at me and I frown back.

"He does not actually feel that cold to me, not enough to bother me anyway."  I frown down at Shadow as I feel his face.  I look up at Jazz in confusion  "He is actually pretty warm."

Jazz feels his face and hands, then holds his hand out to me as a comparison. I feel his hand then Shadows.  Jazz is definitely a lot colder than Shadow is.

"You know Lime has mentioned him being warmer than me and Omri sometimes."  he starts laughing  "That boy is doing some weird things!!  When he goes out in the sunshine, he comes in and he feels a lot warmer, Sunny has noticed it.  It is almost like he is absorbing the heat from the sun like a mortal does."  He suddenly becomes very amused  "I wouldn't be surprised if he is not absorbing your body heat!!  He is almost like a chameleon switching between the mortal and immortal worlds."
 
This puzzles me but I do not get a chance to say anything.  Suddenly the door flies open quite violently as Honey comes storming into the room just ahead of Cosmic who is shouting at her while she is yelling a hail of abuse back.  She barges straight up to me and she looks angry, furious even.

I am a little shocked because I have never seen her looking so angry and she has never looked at me in that way before, ever!!  She stands there scowling at me nastily and actually hisses at me, showing me her teeth.  Shadow reacts by sitting up and hissing back at her.  They are like a pair of wild cats!!

After what they have told me about her personality change, I can not help but start to feel a little nervous now, seeing Honey obviously furious with me and knowing that she has teeth that are going to hurt if she decides to sink them into me!!

Hell I never expected this!!

She wouldn't hurt me ... would she?!


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