Chapter 45 - Gen 2 - Tapestry

Honey is just standing in front of my with a face like thunder!!

I just can not deal with all the different emotions running through me, now having to deal with the fact that she has not faded.  She is not buried in the cemetery, she is here as large as life and still in my life, I have not lost my best friend at all.  However, I have never seen my best friend this mean and angry looking before!!

Seeing her like this, now as an adult as well as a vampberry, is quite a shock to my system.  It upsets, shocks and surprises me.  The surprise is that I never imagined that she would grow up to look like she does.  Now that I am standing here and taking a good look at her face, she looks to me, through my colour blind eyes, to be almost Ruby's double, but a younger version obviously.  I have imagined her in my mind differently somehow, but I guess because she is still a teenager in my head.   What shocks me is that the longer I stand staring a her face, the more I get a very nasty feeling that I have seen this face before.

My head suddenly flashes back to the last time that I was here in this den, to when I was wiping Crystals memory.  I am sure that this is the face that I saw in Crystals head, the woman that Crystal had seen watching us when we were alone in the side room together.  Now I feel sick as well as stupid, because I am sure that I saw Honey way back then and I did not recognize her.  Why am I so stupid sometimes?  There are so many clues that have been dropped in front of me that I have not picked up on, I did not see them at the time, but I can see them now!! 

"Don't you dare look at me like that you dirt bag!!"  she suddenly snaps angrily at me.

"Dirt bag?!"  I frown at her.

"Yes you!!  You have a damn nerve showing your face here finally, you cheating scum bag!!"  she snaps  "It did not take you long to replace me did it!!  You never loved me at all did you, in that idiot head of yours!!  You did not even have the decency to dump me!!"

"Honey ..."

"Don't you Honey me!!"  she snaps not even giving me a chance to say anything  "How long did it take you exactly after you slung your hook to the other side of the planet?!   You can not even deny it, I have seen you with that colourless thing of yours, that you bought home with you!!"

"And what?!"   I yell at her because I think it is the only way I am going to get my say  "I did not chose to run I had too!!  They told me you had faded what the hell did you expect me to do!!"

"My Dad and Strawberry were right about you!!  You knock me up then you sling your hook and move onto your next victim BEFORE the brats were even born!!  AND you have the nerve to leave me lumbered with that orange squealing brat!!"  she snaps as she points at Shadow  "Look at him, he's a mini you and the last thing that I want is a constant reminder of your ugly face!!"

"What the Hell Honey?!"

"Well I hope you have come here to take the horrible thing away with you, he should be with the yellow brat, and I definitely don't want him!!"

"Are you for real?!"  I snap angrily while she just glares at me. 

I am totally dumbfounded!!  I am not sure that I can believe what is coming out of Honey's mouth!!  What happened to the nice, sweet girl that I knew?!  I glance at Jazz and Storm wide eyed in disbelief.

"I did warn you Tap!!"  Storm starts chuckling  "Honey is now totally off her head and a prize bitch!!  Honey and my mother have both had personality transplants!!"

Jazz, Storm and Cosmic all start laughing quietly.

"Shut your hole spirit!!"  She glares at Storm then she laughs sarcastically at Jazz  "That green bitch is playing a very clever game!!  She is just play acting to pull the wool over your eyes, if you can't see it then you are stupid!!"  she snaps nastily.

"You are just jealous bitch, because your kid prefers her to you, and seriously I don't blame him!!"  Storm, like he does,  is just taunting and laughing which annoys her.

"Isn't it about time you and your three transparent mates passed over and got lost gay boy!!  This is not a doss house for ghosts or puffs!!"

"Whatever vampire!!"  Storm snaps at her.

"It is not a doss house for mortals either!!  What are you even doing here anyway?"  she turns her attention back to me   "We have enough mortals stinking up this place, we don't need you adding to the stench!!"  she snaps  "So go on, sling your hook back to your colourless bitch and make sure you take your orange brat with you!!"

I start to get angry because she sounds just like Coral and I seriously hate the word brat, especially when it is thrown at my children!!  Honey should not be talking like this in front of Shadow!!  Now I am seeing what Storm meant when he said earlier that she is now evil.  I am astonished by what she has become.  This is not my Honey, this is a monster!! 

"You need to wind your neck in!!  The only brat around here is you!!"  I snap at her  "Call yourself a Mother!?  It is no wander Shadow thinks you don't like him and prefers Lime, if this is the way you talk about him and so he can hear it!!"

"He is right ... I don't like the little brat, just like he doesn't like me, and what?!" she snaps  "That green bitch is his Mother these days, but I guess you have heard!!"  she laughs sarcastically  "Just like the yellow brat has that colourless freak of yours playing Mommy!!"

"STOP calling Shadow and Vanilla BRATS!!"  I yell at her  "And Crystal is NOT a colourless freak either!!  What the hell happened to you Honey?!"

"I think that is pretty damn obvious don't you!"  she snarls at me nastily showing me her teeth.

Shadow suddenly sits up and snarls at her, like she had just snarled at me, which shocks me for a moment.  I see Jazz watching us intensely.

"Well I am telling you, you want to keep that yellow brat and  ...  Crystal ... on a tight lead or you might just find me sinking my teeth into them when your back is turned!!"  she spits at me smugly then starts to laugh.  "It's just a shame they are both silent or I would have had them both by now!!  Although, that little colourless brat that you seem to have acquired isn't silent  ...."  she starts cackling almost like a witch.

"You leave Snow, Vanilla and Crystal alone, I'm warning you!!"  I yell at her, wandering how the hell would she know about Snow, then I think that Storm has probably told her about him.

"And what?!  Like you can stop me idiot!!"  she starts laughing

"Honey nasty thinking!!"  Shadow suddenly starts flapping his arms around  "Daddy Honey bite Tappy!!"  he shouts

Shadow must have been listening to her thoughts because as he is saying it suddenly Honey lurches forward and goes for me, she grabs me around the throat.  I just stand there shocked as I feel her grip tightening painfully around my throat and I can hardly breath let alone talk, or shout out.

Suddenly I am scared, but surprisingly, I am not really thinking about her being on the verge of crushing my neck in seconds with her strong vampberry strength and fading me, I am thinking about my voice, the last thing that I need is her messing up my vocal cords so I can no longer sing!!  She snarls at me showing me her teeth as her open mouth starts to come towards me, like she does actually intend to bite me.  I do not know whether she intends to drain, fade or turn me.

I watch Shadow suddenly turn from a cute toddler into the blood sucking monster that he is.  He snarls nastily like Honey had, bearing his teeth as he flies at speed out of my arms and at Honey.  She roars as she suddenly lets go of me and I see Shadow has actually knocked her backwards a little, because of the force in which he hit her.  He is biting into her shoulder like an animal snarling as he does it.  It is the most bizarre thing that I have ever seen, he is clinging onto her by holding a handful of her hair and attacking like a wild animal, literally tearing a chunk of her flesh away, while she is struggling to get him off her.

It suddenly becomes a mad scramble Jazz and both of the spirits fly past me as Shadow sinks his teeth into her for a second time.  Jazz grabs for Shadow, roaring at him to loose Honey, which he does instantly, while the two spirits wrestle Honey away from us.  Jazz passes Shadow to me quickly then stands in front of us like he is protecting us from her in case she comes back at me, but I doubt that she will get past the spirits.

From the time she grabbed my throat to now, it only took a matter of seconds to play out, but it felt like it ran in slow motion for me, as I now stand, holding onto Shadow tightly, shaking in shock.  Honey is now just standing there quietly glaring with Cosmic hovering over her, I think she knows she is beat.

  

"Take her back down to her cage!!"  Jazz snarls angrily.  "I was an idiot to let her come up here and think she might behave herself for once!!"

"Jazzz."  she says in a sickly voice

"DON'T even try going there Honey!!"  he holds his hands up and yells  "Cos, get her out of my sight now before I do something Sunny is going to hate!!"

I continue to shake as I watch the two spirits dragging Honey away, now kicking and screaming again.  The spirits soon have Honey under control, I remember that she does not stand a chance against them because while they can physically interact with her, she like us mortals, can not feel or touch them.  She virtually gives up fighting straight away because she knows she is not getting away from the spirits, but while she has stopped fighting physically she is still giving Storm and Cosmic loads of verbal abuse as they drag her out of the room.

Jazz checks that me and Shadow are both alright before he leaves us alone while he takes off after the spirits to make sure that Honey gets locked back up in her cage without any problems.

Shadow, who has now turned back into that cute toddler again, is fine except for being upset.  besides a sore throat, which will probably be badly bruised tomorrow, I am just a little shaken by what has just happened.  I have to lean against the wall because I feel like my legs are going to give way.  I seriously can not believe that Honey has turned from that nice, kind, sweet girl that I knew into the evil monster that I have just witnessed.  Just hearing her swearing and the vile things coming out of her mouth was shock enough, and I think seeing Shadow, as a vampberry in full action has also blown my head a little.

"Naaaasty Honey!!"  Shadow mumbles  "Me no like her!!  Me wants Lime to be my Mommy!!"

All I can do is hug him, he is upset like I am.  I honestly do not blame him for not liking her if this is the way that she acts towards and in front of him.  I am now very intrigued to see this 'new' and improved Lime that they all seem to suddenly like.

I was a little angry earlier, when I first found out that Honey was still here and not faded, wandering how she could have left Vanilla like she has.  However, if this is how she is going to treat Vanilla, like she wrongly treats Shadow, now I am very glad that Vanilla has never seen her Mother, and if I can help it she never ever will!!

"Me see Vanilla?"  Shadow asks quietly.

I just stare at him as he stares back at me.  I am stupid, I was just thinking freely, forgetting that he can actually listen to my thoughts.  Vanilla, what does he actually know about Vanilla?  I bet he must know, he has been listening to everyone's thoughts, as well as our earlier conversation and we have just been throwing her name about for him to hear it.   I really need to try and distract him away from the subject of Vanilla, until I get my head around all this.  Hell, now how do I deal with this?!  I have a hell of a lot of thinking to do!!  How can I let him see Vanilla, I don't think I want Vanilla to know about this immortal world especially about Honey, now with the way that she is!!

I see Shadow frown at me.  Hell I am doing it again ... he is listening to this!! 

"Okay. Me gets it!"  he laughs at me  "They still hides me from everybody because me's a vampy!!" 

This boy is cracking me up!!

"So what are these Special Boy abilities that you have?"

I ask him trying to distract him away from the the subject of Vanilla.  I am actually embarrassed that he has just heard and understood what I was thinking.  This is so awkward, I have never had to worry about anyone listening to my thoughts before!!

I soon forget about the problem and decision that I have to make over Vanilla knowing the truth or not,  when he starts to tell me first about all the vampire things that he does, some of them not even vampberry's and Originals can do.  Then all of the mortal things that he does that Jazz thinks that he should not be doing, like eating, sleeping, growing and he can go outside in the sunshine during the daytime and it does not burn him.  He tells me that Jazz thinks he is half mortal / half immortal and can function and survive as either.  This shocks me, and I begin to wander if he could actually live out in the mortal world?!

I can not help but notice that the little boy seems a lot more grown up from when I saw him in the cemetery, by the way he is talking to me, some of the vocabulary he is using and things that he knows.  It is almost like talking to a much older child, but one thing is bothering me, he still talks a little on the baby side, why does he keep saying me and me's instead of I or I am?  He is like Vanilla, not showing any signs of having any of my problems or being stupid like me!!  Not that I think anymore that I am stupid, just disabled.

"Me's a clever boy ... I am."  he grins at me cheekily, obviously listening to my thoughts again, which makes me laugh at him.  "I can read all the big boy books!!"

"Big boy books?"  I frown at him

"Yes.  I can read all of Limes books."  he grins at me like he is proud of himself.  He points in the direction of the book case.  "Pick a book off the shelf and me show you!"

I am amused as I glance over to the book case in the room and notice there are no books there that look like they might be children's books, they all look like adult books to me.  He tells me to pick one and he will read it to me.  I laugh as I walk over to the bookcase with him and I take out the first book my hand touches.  I sit down on the carpet with Shadow and the book.  He tells me what the book is called and who the author is, which amuses me.

"I have already read this book, its a soppy kissing book!"  he pulls a face at me  "I'm not keen on romantic fiction!!  But Lime likes it, it is her favourite!" 

I am amused by what he just said about Lime, I can not imagine her being the romantic sort!!  I sit laughing at him as he opens the book to one of the middle pages and he starts reading away.  I stare down at the page of writing and it suddenly begins to jump around in front of my eyes, to me it just looks like a dyslexic jumbled mess and I have to look away.

I just have to sit listening to him reading.  I can not read so I do not know if he is actually reading it correctly, but as I continue to sit and listen to him, from what he is actually reading out loud, I can imagine that he is actually reading that adult book.  His sentence is flowing and he is not stumbling on any of the words.  Words that I doubt that he even knows the meaning of, some of them even I do not understand!! 

"Do you actually understand what you are reading?"  I laugh at him

"Yes, me's clever!!"  he grins at me

"Okay, Mr Clever clogs ... what does ... obnoxious mean?"  I ask him thinking about a word that he has just read out.  I am not really expecting an answer from him, but he surprises me.

"Highly objectionable or offensive, odious."  he grins while I stare at him in amazement.

I can not help but think about the word odious, I have never even heard that word before, let alone know what it means.

"Odious - highly offensive, hateful, detestable, disgusting, deserving or causing hatred."   he grins at me. "I think Honey is very obnoxious!!" 

I start to really laugh at him not quite believing how he answered my question or responded to my thoughts!!  That is the sort of comeback I would expect from River or Dad not this little toddler sat beside me.  Shadow is another little Muffin geek!!

"Have you been eating a dictionary you little geek?"

"No silly!!"  he says dramatically  "Me's been reading the dictionary, not eating it!!"  he laughs at me  "You's funny!!  Me's not a Muffin geek!!  I am not enthusiastic, eccentric or obsessed with cake, I just eat cake occasionally, I actually prefer fruit!!"  he frowns at me  "You do know what geek means don't you!!" 

This makes me crack up and I sit there laughing.  He laughs with me, but I doubt he understands why I am laughing.  Muffin being my orange family surname, he thinks I am talking about a muffin cake.  Everything else he said, is just way over my head!!

"I need to pee!"  he says suddenly as he closes the book and gets up.

I sit and watch Shadow with amusement as he flashes across the room at speed but only a short distance to the potty chair that I had not noticed before now.  He starts to undress himself.  I am surprised to see that he is not wearing a nappy like Vanilla still does.  She is learning to use her potty like Snow but neither of them are quite there yet, to be nappy free.  I am surprised I did not notice in all the time that I was holding him that there was no nappy.

"Me wears big boy pants, not nappies"  he grins at me after listening to my thoughts. "Look!"  he says as he turns a little and sticks his bum out, pointing to something on the bum cheek of his pants.  "Smiley face!"

After he has shown me the smiley face on his pants, I sit laughing as Shadow pulls his pants down and sits on his potty. I get confused when he just sits there staring at me with a strange look on his face which makes me laugh.

"Don't watch me pee!!  It is rude!!"  he says seriously  "You wouldn't like me watching you going for a pee!!"

This cracks me up and I can't help but throw myself back and lie on the carpet and have a fit of laughter.  Vanilla for some reason has a really big problem with people watching her pee, and she won't if she is being watched, we have to turn away before she will do it.  I am beginning to see little things that they both do, where they are very much alike, especially how dramatic they both are. However, it is not just that what has cracked me up, he just pulled his pants down right in front of me, standing there with his little snake on display and now he is bothered about me watching him pee when he is sat on his potty and I can't actually see anything.  Toddler logic!

"New Man coming, me hears him!!"  Shadow says suddenly.

I hear the door open which makes me jump up. River walks into the room alone.

I am very surprised that River is even here at all.  He just stands staring at me glumly for a moment, and I can not help but notice that it looks like he might have been crying.  He turns to look at Shadow.

"Excuse me Mr!!  Did I actually say you could come in!!"  Shadow says to a stunned River. "It is rude to just walk in without knocking and If you don't mind not watching me, I am trying to take a pee, if you have not already noticed!!"  he frowns at River.  "It is just lucky for you that I am not taking a dump!!"

River is now frozen just staring back at him very wide eyed and I can't say I blame him!  I start howling, I just crack right up again!!  I think I love this kid already!  How can Honey not love this kid!!

"Well I am very sorry!!  I did not mean to be so rude!!  I will remember to knock next time!"  River laughs 

"Good!!  You are a nice man here looking for Tappy, so you are pardoned on this occasion!!"  Shadow replies  "However, that still does not entitle you to watch me urinating!!"

River, looks at me, still wide eyed points at Shadow, his mouth drops open then he cracks up!!  We both stand there just laughing for a while.

"You can look now."  he says suddenly which cracks me up all over again, because when I do look he is stood there struggling to pull his pants up, which are still around his knees.  He manages to pull them up after a while then he continues to get himself redressed.  He puts the lid down on his potty chair and pats the lid before he stands there looking at me, with his hands on his hips.

"You's a funny man Tappy!!"  he says then starts laughing with me.  "Me's got a spout silly, not a snake!!  Snakes bite!!"

Shadow turns to River then and laughs sarcastically, still with his hands on his hips. 

"Yes of course I know what that particular body part is called, along with what it's two main functions are in a medical capacity, which I do not need to explain to you because you think like a doctor.  My use of the word spout is just for politeness!!  I can not abide rude words and nasty swearing and I do not like the word penis, it sounds vulgar!!" 

 

I have gone!!  I'm doubled up and holding my stomach.  I think River has just met his match!!  I also think I have just noticed something.  When he started speaking to River, his vocabulary and the way he spoke dramatically changed, almost like he was talking to River on his intelligence level, which he can obviously judge listening to the thoughts running through Rivers head.  He speaks totally differently to me, more in baby language, which suddenly makes me wander just how stupid am I?

"Is this kid for real!!??"  River chokes in amazement

"Yes, I think he is another little Muffin geek!!  Shadow reads the dictionary and adult books!!"  I mumble through my laughter  "Medical journals as well by the sounds of it!!  Probably medical journals you have left here."

"Who are you anyway?"  Shadow frowns at River "I am Shadow.  It is rude not to introduce yourself!"

"I am River, and I am Tapestry's brother."  Shadow grins at him

"So you are my orange Uncle."   River looks at me and frowns.  I am amused by how clever this boy is.  Shadow starts laughing I think at something River just thought. "Yes I do know that Tapestry is my real Daddy and no I am not colourblind!!" 

"Yes little mind reader, you are right, I am your Uncle"  River laughs at him  "Am I allowed to pick you up, or are you going to bite me?"

"Yes you are allowed."  Shadow grins at him  "I only bite nasty evil people like Honey and Maizie!!"

River bends down and picks Shadow up chuckling as he does it, probably because of Shadow saying Maizie is nasty and evil, an opinion I know that River shares with the boy.

"Talking about biting.  Shadow is my little super hero, he has just flown at Honey and taken a few chunks out of her to stop her from taking a chunk out of me!!"  I tell River and he looks at me with alarm.  "She has turned into a right monster!!"

"So Omri warned me, he says she is totally void of emotion and they are having to keep her caged."  he rolls his eyes  "He also told me I've seen her in action apparently, but I don't remember obviously, it has been wiped away."

"River, how did you know I was here?"  I frown at him.  "Do the vampberry's know you are here?"

He explains that Jazz phoned Omri, while he was still in the hideout, and told him to bring River into the den because I was here with Shadow.  Omri has had to remind River of the truth about Honey, Shadow and Maizie.  Apparently River made Jazz promise that if I ever found out about Shadow being here then he was too be reminded of everything he has had wiped out of his memory.  Besides they did not think, that if I ever did find out about Shadow, that I would cope with it, or deal with it properly alone.  Dad is also to be reminded of the truth. 

"Oh, so I guess you are now down here to see my drunken hallucination!!  And get this, he is my son and the little vampire boy that you said could not possibly exist!!"  I laugh at him

"Okay Tap don't even try to be funny!!"  he laughs sarcastically  "I had my memory wiped of him remember, and I am seriously struggling to get my head around this right now!!"  he frowns at me  "How the hell did you work it out, Jazz says you knew Shadow was your son when you walked in here looking for him, and why didn't you tell me what you was up to!!  More to the point, HOW STUPID were you to just walk into this den alone without telling anyone!!  Jazz COULD have reacted to your presents here in a totally different way and you know it!!"

"Like you would have believed or helped me - I have tried to tell you but you wouldn't listen!!"  I laugh at him sarcastically  "You wouldn't even believe that the vampire boy could existed, so how was I supposed to make you believe all the rest!!"  I tut at him  "Coming in here alone was a risk I had to take to get to Shadow and prove it, while I knew Jazz and Omri were out of the way with you.  You would have done exactly the same thing if you had been in my shoes and you knew it was your son being hidden from you ... and we all know who made that decision, don't we!!"  

"Tap, I'm sorry!!"

"You will be!!"  I scowl at him suddenly  "I am seriously not happy about the decision that you and Dad made to hide Shadow from me, and I am going to be kicking off over it, but I will wait until Dad has been reminded, and he is here ... you are both going to get it, Sunny too!!"

River just quietly stares at me and I do not get any response from him.  Shadow suddenly starts giggling and I presume it is because of something that River is thinking.  The door opens and Maizie walks in. 

"My little Mango!!"  Maizie exclaims almost like she is happy to see him  "I thought I was going mad when I started to hear and smell you!!"  she laughs almost hysterically  "Sooo I see you two have found out about the boy!!  Jazz won't be happy about you steaming in here Tap and muscling in on his precious little brat!!"  she laugh.  Now she has annoyed me, what is wrong with all these women around me using the word brat?!  "Where is your Dad Mango?"

"Just GET OUT Maizie!!  I want NOTHING to do with you AND you can stay right away from Dad!!"  River snaps at her, but he does not look at her, he keeps his eyes firmly fixed on me.  "Don't call me Mango either, I've had my name changed, you are faded to me and Mango Lane does not exist any more!!"

"Yes, I see I have a nice headstone in the cemetery, who's idea was that, your Dad's I suspect, it is the sort of thing he would do.  A sign he still cares!"

"Like HELL does he still care!!  He NEVER cared, all you were to him was an irritating distraction!!"  he snaps  "Just GO Maizie, I am sick of you already and it's been what, all of two minutes!!"
 

"MAIZIE  GET OUT!!"  Jazz suddenly roars, as he comes flying through the door, which makes both me and River jump.  "River does not want you in here winding him up, he doesn't even want to see your face and quite frankly neither do I!!!!!"
 
Shadow suddenly sits up hissing and snarling at Maizie quite nastily, he is baring his teeth at her and I swear for a moment I saw his eyes glowing brighter.   I think that he might be about to fly at her like he did Honey.  Maizie snarls and hisses, just as nastily back.  They snarl and hiss at each other like a pair of angry cats, before Maizie flashes out of the room, the door swinging violently behind her.  River stares at the boy, an expression of total horror on his face.

"Naaaaasty Maizie!!"  Shadow hisses as he stares at the door before he lays his head on River's Shoulder, turning back into the cute toddler again.

"Please tell me he did not just do that!!"  River says with a shaky voice as he stands there stiff with his eyes closed, almost like he is suddenly scared of the boy.  "Hell, he is not going to bite me is he?"

"He might, he is a vampberry remember!"  I laugh at River who stares at me wide eyed while Shadow giggles I think he can hear my thoughts and knows that I am winding River up.  "You should see him fly, he's like a wild animal, he took chunks out of Honey, so I would not upset him if I was you!!"  me, Jazz and Shadow laugh at River.

"I am glad you can laugh about it Tapestry!!"  River snaps  "I seriously do not like this!!  I think I am going to throw up!!"  

Me and Jazz start howling at River when he stares wide eyed at Shadow who is now patting him on the chest telling him that he only bites nasty people and he's a nice man.

"Boy's your Dad owes me money!!"  Jazz starts laughing  "We had bets on who out of the two of you would take Shadow being a vampire better.  I told him Tapestry would deal with this a lot better than you River, and I was right, wasn't I!!"  he laughs as River rolls his eyes at him 

"Yes Tapestry, why are you so calm about all this?"  River frowns at me only taking his eye off Shadow for a second.  I think he is now very wary of the boy.  "I thought you would be going ballistic, kicking off and having an outburst."

"I've had months to think about it since the night in the cemetery, and it has been a month since Shadow phoned me on Jazz's phone, while I was in Sandy Shores, which is when I became 99% sure he was my Shadow."  Rivers eyes widen, he knows nothing about that phone call.  "At the end of the day there is nothing that I can do to change what has happened, but I would much rather that he was here like this than buried in the cemetery before he had a chance to live his life."

"River you can relax, you don't need to worry about Shadow."  Jazz laughs at River, who I think is still a little nervous of the boy.  "Honestly he won't hurt you.  Shadow is a lot better natures than the rest of us, he's like Omri, he has a full set of mortal emotions and is a really good boy."  Jazz smiles at River  "He takes offense at Honey and Maizie in particular, because they are evil natured, and the boy, I now know, can hear everything that us vampberrys are thinking."

"Honey and Maizie nasty thinking!!"  Shadow says quietly, then he gets dramatic  "Me hears Omri coming, he's thinking loud and angry!!"   River stares wide eyed at Jazz.

"Yes River, not only does he hear vampberry thoughts and Tapestry's thoughts, he can also hear what the spirits are thinking too!!"  Jazz laughs at River who has a look of shock written all over his face.  "So there is nothing that we can hide from that boy!!"

Omri walks into the room and he does look angry.  He explains that it is all kicking off downstairs, the spirits are literally having to hold Honey down because she is now giving Lime verbal hell, as well as throwing the contents of her cage, what bits she can fit through the bars, at Limes cage.  He says the noise down there is awful and he does not think that they can keep them together down there any longer.

"Something that Honey said is really bothering me."  Jazz says suddenly  "Is it me, or did I hear her say that Vanilla is silent?"  he frowns at me then Omri  "Vanilla was not silent to me when she was born."  he looks at me  "I need to get close to her so I can see."

"Honey probably just said it spitefully or lying trying to scare me, she did threaten to bite, Snow, Vanilla and Crystal."  I mumble.

I have never really thought about Vanilla also being silent like me and Crystal, even though she does see spirits like we do.  Not thinking that I would have to have any future contact with the vampberry's, I have tried to forget about all the vampberry stuff, including my compelling and mind reading abilities.  I have only actually used it once on Strawberry.

"No Tap, it would actually make sense for her to be silent now.  Shadow's abilities are growing and appearing all the time."  he laughs quietly  "I know she sees and communicates with our spirits, so she is probably silent just like you and Crystal.  It looks like it might be something that comes with the territory of seeing the spirit world."  he frowns at me  

Maybe but, Honey can only be guessing about Vanilla can't she.  You have not been near enough to Vanilla to notice it so how has she?  She has not been anywhere near Vanilla since the day she was born."

"Mmmmmm"  he looks at me sheepishly  "Unfortunately Tap, Honey has been a lot closer to Vanilla recently than you think."

"WHAT?!!"  I snap  "How close?  How?"

"Too close!!"  Jazz mumbles

I suddenly get a horrible thought run through my head. 

"Please tell me Sunny has NOT brought Vanilla here!!  If he has I am going to seriously swing for him!!"

"No Tap!!  Vanilla has never been here."  he laughs quietly  "Honey has been going out at night and stalking your house.  That is one of the main reasons why we have had to start locking her up, to stop her going out and especially to keep her away from Shadow."  I notice Jazz and Omri exchange a quick glance  "Unfortunately, she can not be trusted with him, she keeps trying to hurt or lose him."

"Please tell me you are joking!!"  I just stare at him wide eyed.

"No, I'm not.  The night Shadow was in the cemetery, she just took off with him when she should not have taken him out of the den grounds.  She saw you in the cemetery by the graves and thought she would have some fun.  She let you see Shadow on purpose because I think she was doing her damnedest to have you find out about Shadow.  If Maizie had not spotted what was happening, Honey would probably have gone and just left Shadow there with you. Since that night she has been very unpredictable and uncontrollable."

"What has she done to hurt him?"

"She dumped him outside in the daytime, thinking it would disintegrate and dispose of him.  We found him quickly, Cos had to go outside and get him.  We did not realize at the time, it would not have actually hurt him because he's a day walker.  It was months later when we discovered the sun does not burn him like it burns us vampberry's and Originals.  He can actually walk around in the sunlight just like you mortals."  River makes me laugh, he stands there choking in amazement.  "She is always being abusive and fighting with him, she has even bitten him a few times."

"I can't believe she has turned into such a bitch!!"

"Honey has taken off with Shadow twice while our backs were turned.  Not too long back Shadow was sleeping and she woke him up and snook off with him.  She dumped him in your back garden and left him there.  Luckily we found him in time before anyone of you saw him. Since then we never leave Shadow alone, one of us is always with him, even when he sleeps."  he laughs  "We found him happily playing in the sand pit right by the kitchen patio doors, your Grandmother was cooking, berry knows how she never saw him, or heard him when he was kicking and screaming because he wanted to stay and play in the sand."

Me and River just stare at each other wide eyed. 

"So when she dumped Shadow in our back garden is that the only time she has been close to Vanilla?"  I frown at him. 

"Not exactly. Just over a week ago, while you were away working, Crystal was walking home from Sunny's with Vanilla and Snow. Honey was stalking them.  Luckily Saffy and Storm were with Crystal at the time, and they think both kids were asleep in the buggy so we don't think they saw Honey."  he rolls his eyes  "I don't know what Honey was planning to do?  Luckily the spirits spotted her before Crystal did and Saffy managed to distract Crystal while Storm dragged Honey away before Crystal saw her.  We have kept her permanently locked up ever since.  Today is the first time she has been out since, and it won't be happening again!!"

"She wants to fade the white lady."  Shadow says suddenly.  We all just stare at him  "She thinks it, I have heard her, she wants to fade Lime and the white lady like she faded my cat!!"

"Why the HELL didn't you warn me that this was going on!!!"  Now I am angry

"How could we without telling you about Honey and Shadow being here?"  Jazz laughs.  I suppose it was a stupid thing for me to say!!  "We thought she was stalking your place to get to you.  We were suspiscious but did not know for sure that she was after Crystal and definitely not to fade her!!"  Jazz smiles at me halfheartedly "Don't worry!!  We have got it covered, she will be permanently kept in that cage from now on!!  I am taking her threat about sinking her teeth into Crystal, Snow and Vanilla, and probably you, very seriously!!"

Suddenly I am scared.  Not quite believing that Honey would or could ever be a danger or threat to me or either of our children, but obviously she is. Crystal I think is the one that I am scared for the most, I would imagine that she is the one that Honey would probably have it in for the most, and it is not just Crystal is it that she would be destroying if she ever got the chance, it would be our baby too.  I am terrified that she is going to get out of that cage and do something before they get the chance to stop her.  I am now going to be constantly looking over my shoulder for vampberry's again, but not just any old vampberry ... Honey!!

I wander when this vampberry rubbish is ever going to stop and realize that it never will!!  Not now that I know that Shadow is here, I can not just walk away and never come back.  I have walked away from here once and got on with my life trying to forget that these vampberry's even exist, I don't have that luxury any more!!

I know that there is a lot to discuss, especially how we are going to play this, and I know that Jazz is really worried about the danger element, if any other vampberry's or Originals spotting that I am silent, which is a possibility with me coming into the den, then it is all going to kick off all over again.

River hands me Shadow and pulls Jazz to one side, and they start to talk in quiet whispers while Omri goes off to check on Limes sanity and see if Honey has quietened down any.  I am amused by River for a moment, I know that he and Dad will now muscle in and take control of this whole situation, because they always think that they know what is best, and just can't help themselves.  They are both very much the same, if they are not in control they can not cope. 

I am actually a little curious about how Dad is going to handle this, and Sunny, when he finds out that I know about his secret Grandchild.  I think Sunny is going to be the one that I lose it with most, Dad and River kind of have an excuse with it all being wiped away, Sunny doesn't, he has stood in front of me and blatantly lied to my face every single day since I returned home !!

"I think someone should be in his cot, and it is way past your bedtime Shadow!!"  Jazz laughs at Shadow, who is obviously falling asleep on me, with his eyes closed and sucking his thumb.

"NOOOoooooo!!"  Shadow pouts as he tries to act like he is wide awake by sitting up.  "I am not tired!!  Me stay with Tappy, he's warm!!"

After a little bickering with Jazz he agreed to go for a sleep, but only if I put him to bed and come back tomorrow.  I put Shadow in the cot that is in this living room.  He starts to complain again, he says he does not want to go to sleep and he does not want me to leave either, which I think is quite cute, considering the boy hardly knows me.  I do not really want to leave either but I know I have no choice. 

"Is you really coming to see me tomorrow?"  he frowns at me  "Gangy just says it a lot, but he doesn't come sometimes."

"Yes I am definitely coming to see you tomorrow!!"  I smile at him  "Promise!!"

"Can you please bring me a new pussy cat tomorrow!!"  I laugh at him thinking he is just trying to find a way to get me back here tomorrow.  I am also amused because Vanilla has a fascination with cats and keeps asking for one.  "No nasty Honey faded my cat and I want a new one!!"  I wander in my head how and why she faded the cat, he answers my question.  "She does not like cats.  Tappy went into her cage and she didn't like him in there, so she dismembered him."

"What do you mean?  What is dismembered?"  I frown at him.

I know what that word means, I am just surprised by him saying it and need to check that dismembered is actually what he meant.

"Dismembered - to deprive of limbs, divide limb by limb, to divide into parts, cut to pieces, mutilate .."  he says like he is quoting the dictionary to me again.

"Okay Okay, I get it!!"  I am shocked to the point I feel sick.

"She made him into little pieces and threw him out of her cage."  he looks sad and upset  "He was mine and Limes friend!!  Honey Naaasty!!  She tells me she will do the same to me if I don't go away!!"

"Don't worry about Honey, Jazz is never letting her out of her cage again, so she will not hurt you!!"  I smile at him  "Okay I will get you a new cat, but it might not be tomorrow.  I have promised Vanilla a cat so I will get you both one in a few days."  he grins at me.

"Me see Vanilla?"  he asks

I am now kicking myself for mentioning her name to him.  He is asking me that question again and I have not even had a chance to think about what I am going to do about Vanilla and Shadow seeing each other.

"Noooooo."  he laughs  "See Vanilla in there."  he points at my head.  This makes me laugh because he wants to look at Vanilla in my head.  I guess it can not hurt, can it?!  Seeing her through my eyes might keep him happy and be a solution to this problem, so that she never needs to find out or be involved with this world.

"Okay, you can see Vanilla in my head."

I expected him to put his hand on my face, but he doesn't, I stare at him and he goes straight through my eyes.  I feel the eye contact and the pain in the back of my eyes, but this feels a little different, and it would do because nobody has ever been inside my head before.  I wander how he can do it when nobody else can.  My head suddenly feels strange, heavy like I have a headache coming, then I think I switched off for a while.

I am not sure how long he was in my head for, but I suddenly snap back and Shadow is laughing at me.  I begin to worry about what he might have seen, and thinking about it, I don't think I really should have let him do that, there is stuff in there that a toddler should not really be looking at.

Shadow lies down and starts to jabber about Vanilla playing in the sand and splashing in the sea.  He seems to have picked out our vacation in Sandy Shores in particular.  He amuses me because he must have been so tired, he talked himself straight off to sleep.

As I stand and watch Shadow sleeping, I can not stop thinking about what Honey did to Shadow's cat.  I am still finding it very hard to believe that the Honey that I knew, could be so callous and evil, especially threatening to do the same to her own son!!

I am really hating the thought of leaving Shadow here, not only because he should be at home with me and Vanilla, but I am scared, just knowing that Honey is here, now an evil blood sucking monster and could possibly hurt him if she gets the chance.  Just threatening the little boy to his face, like she has, is way below the belt!!  Shadow is still only a toddler, he should not have to hear those sort of things, especially not from his Mother, and even though he is a vampberry and obviously has fight in him, still he does not really stand a chance against an adult vampberry.

I feel like my heart is breaking all over again and the tears that I am fighting to keep in, are stinging the back of my eyes.  This seriously is not fair!!  What did we do to deserve any of this?  While I am really happy that he is not buried in the cemetery like they lead me to believe ... this definitely is not the life that I would have wanted for him.

"Come on Tap!!  Crystal and Winter will be wandering where we are, and we need to talk to Dad."  River mumbles from behind me.

"I do not want to leave him, and especially not here!"  I mumble as I start to cry, which makes River laugh.

"How did I know you would get like this!!"  he starts laughing as he puts his arm around me  "Unfortunately, I think you know, you really have no choice but to leave him here, and it's not like you will never see him again, we will be back tomorrow.  You can still be his Dad, just from a distance."

"I know, but this is so not fair, I just want to take him home where he should be!!"

"It is perfectly understandable, but Jazz, Omri and Lime will take good care of him, like they have been doing!!"  he smiles at me  "I know this situation is far from perfect, and I'm the last one to be happy about him being a vampberry!  However, this is a damn sight better than where you thought he was and you will get to see him living a life rather than only having a grave to put flowers on!!"

He has just said exactly what I have been thinking,  but it still does not alter the fact, or make it right, that my son is a vampberry and has to live in the vampire den away from me and the rest of his family!!

How do I go home now, hide him away from everyone and act like everything is normal?

Life is never going to be normal for me again!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~