Julien Gregg's Moreau Witches Part Two Chapter 8

 EIGHT

I got Rusty all situated and ready to go. Then I went in and did my paperwork. I got his paperwork ready for him to fill out, and I ordered lunch. It would arrive from the diner in about a half hour. Lestan came in and asked about Rusty. I told him he was cleaning kennels right now. He said he just wanted to make sure that he came in today. I told him I put him to work, but I had his paperwork ready for him to fill out so he could get paid.

"He seem okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, he seemed fine," I said. "Why?"

"Pop said he's not dealing with Dad's death very well," he said.

"Well, he seemed fine while I talked to him," I said. "He's excited about the new baby."

"Well, I'll keep an eye on him," he said. "I'm gonna go play with the dogs."

"Good," I said. "Have fun. Lunch is on its way. I ordered you a tuna melt on rye."

"Thanks," he said. "Come get me when the food gets here."

"Okay," I said.

Then Damon came in with donuts. I told him those were for after lunch. I'd already put in the food order. I'd gotten him a hamburger horseshoe with extra cheese like he liked. He thanked me. He asked what was going on. I told him about my uncle coming to work here, and Tommy left to do some things for Jason, and Andra came and adopted Sammy. He said that was good. Sammy needed a home. I said he had one now.

"I need to tell you something," I said. "You remember what we talked about regarding my grandfather and my Pop?"

"You bonded them and gave them the elixir?" he asked.

"Yes, I wanted to let you know for the database but the way it happened is what you need to hear about," I said.

"Was it strange?" he asked.

"No," I said. "I didn't touch them. They touched themselves in the bathroom. It worked."

"I'll be damned," he said. "Well, thank you for letting me know. I'm going to go play with the dogs. Jason will love to hear this."

"I'm sure," I said. "Have fun. I'll come get you and Lestan when the food gets here."

"Okay," he said.

The food came almost as soon as he stepped out the door. I got it all paid for and put together for each person I ordered for. It cost a lot of money to feed five bonded, my uncle, and three immortalis, but I paid it. I put Damon's food in one spot and wrote his name on the styrofoam container. Then I put Lestan's food in another place and wrote his name on it. Then I got my uncle's order and put his name on it. Then I put the names of the bonded on their food. Then I went out and called them all into the office to get their food.

Mine was a hamburger horseshoe with extra cheese just like Damon's. I started to eat mine while they came in and found their own food. We all sat around the office and ate. When we were done they went back to what they were assigned to do. I sat in the office getting caught up on all of the paperwork. A bunch of Golden Retrievers were coming in today. I got them all squared away. There were ten of them in this delivery. I went out and put their names on the kennels they would stay in. Of course they'd be in quarantine when they first arrived. I put the quarantine signs on the kennels and went back to the office.

The dogs arrived, and they were all feral. I put them in their kennels and gave them food and water. Then I filled out the paperwork from the man who brought the dogs. There was a lot of it. There were five pages for each dog. The vet would be here in about twenty minutes, and I'd have her look them over and tell me what was what. He thanked me, and I paid him his finder's fee. He left. Then I was just waiting for Kayla to get there to checked the dogs out.

"Hello, Charlie," she said as she came through the door. "Are the dogs here yet?"

"They just arrived," I said. "You came just in time. I have them in quarantine until you do your assessments. Let me know what's going on with each dog."

"I might need a little help if they're feral," she said.

"Just pull someone from the yard," I said. "I have all of this paperwork to finish."

"Okay," she said. She went back outside and then she and Rusty brought in the fist dog. She was nervous and they were practically dragging her into the back of the office where the vet station was. They weighed her, and then Kayla took a vial of blood from her and began to canalize it. She found nothing wrong with the first dog. She was placed back in her kennel and the quarantine sign was removed. Her kennel was open.

She did this for all of the dogs, and having found nothing significantly wrong with any of them, they were removed from quarantine. When I got my paperwork done I started to work with them. I had a plan for Lady. She wasn't spaded, so I found a male with his kit in tact, and then I went and got Lady. I fed them both water with the bonding potion in it. Lady was already in heat. I put put them in the breeding pen and let them go. Suddenly I could feel them both in my head. I took them out of the breeding pen and let them roam. I communicated with the new male, and he took to me really quickly. I would take him home with me.

"How's it going?" Damon asked as he came into the office.

"I bonded Lady and the new male, Dexter just now," I said. "I gave them water with the bonding potion in it, and let them at each other. Now I can feel them like any bonded in my head."

"That's amazing," he said. "I didn't think it would work on animals."

"I took a shot," I said, smiling. "They'll live as long as I do. That's the important thing. Plus my communication with them is perfect. They respond to my commands, and Dexter licked my hand when I told him he had nothing to fear. He's rehabilitated already."

"That's perfect," he said. "I might bond two myself. Do you have any females in this batch that are in heat?"

"Two of them," I said. "They came from a puppy farm, so they'll mate. Just feed them water with the bonding potion and let them at each other. It'll work."

"I've got to go and get the bonding potion," he said. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," I said. "I'll show you which dogs are ready when you get back here."

"Cool," he said. "Thanks for trying this and finding out that it works. This will make things a lot easier for the dogs that come to live with me and the bonded."

"Yes," I said.

He left, and I went back to paperwork. I filled out the adoption forms for Dexter and signed my name on the adopter line. Then I brought him and Lady back into the office and gave them treats. They both went to lay in the pet beds to wait for further commands. I didn't know how it would go with them. No one had ever bonded a dog before. However, they communicated with me that they were happy. I just left them where they were and went back to the paperwork. I finished it, and then I took them outside. I worked with them with silent commands and they did perfect. The other dogs watched them and then some of the feral ones came over to play, too. They didn't play with me, but they played with Lady and Dexter.

Damon came back and I gave him Goldie and Lem. He fed them bonding potion and then we put them in the breeding pen. It didn't take long and he could feel them in his head like other bonded. I told him to use the bond when they were unstuck and tell them that you are the Alpha. "They'll respond to that, and they'll be yours forever. They'll protect you, and they'll probably stay with you all of the time. Feel free to bring them into the shelter to work with other dogs."

"Thank you," he said. "You are finding out more about the bond than any Immortalis has ever learned. I'll tell Jason about this and we'll see about getting him dogs, too."

"Sounds good to me," I said. "They'll have a great home because they're bonded."

When I knocked off for the day, I had my two bonded dogs. Damon had his, and Jason was at the shelter to bond two. I showed him which ones to bond. I told him exactly what I told Damon. Damon found that he could silently communicate with them once they were bonded. It was perfect. I took my two and went home. When I got there I told Pop and Grandpa what I'd done. They thought it was amazing. They asked if they could bond Jinx and Paul. I told them that we had two more dogs in heat at the shelter and to bring them to the shelter tomorrow with bonding potion and I'd get them squared away. It would mean that Jinx wasn't mine anymore, but that was fine. I had three dogs of my own now without Jinx. I loved her, and this would make her immortal. At least she'd be with someone that I loved.

Damon called his father and told him about bonding dogs. The man was astounded, but he said that he and his bonded would be in Moonlight Bay before too long. Then he would bond dogs, and he was bringing Arena and her bonded to do the same. By the end of the month there were eight Immortalis in Moonlight Bay and a bunch of bonded. Arena and her bonded were enrolled at the high school in Keller Village with the rest of us. Jordan and his bonded were enrolled at Ashdon. Once they figured out that the witches could care less about them, Jordan bought a house. He and Arena moved into the house. They would be here for a while.

Jordan Arcola looked a lot like Damon and Jason. He was a little older, but they all had that ageless look to them. It was impossible to figure out what age any of them were. They all looked young enough to be in high school. Jordan's bonded, however were college aged. It worked out that they were enrolled at Ashdon. It was summer so none of us were in classes. Jordan and Arena came to work at the shelter. I had all of the employees that I needed. They bonded dogs, too. So now all of the Immortalis in the city had two dogs. Some of us had Golden Retrievers, and Jordan had Doberman.

I was a hit with all of the Immortalis that had come to town. They loved that Lestan and I were witches and Immortalis. I told them that my Pop and Grandfather were witches and Immortalis, too. They thought that was amazing. We were all immortal, and they were intrigued by Lestan bonding Mary Beth and being in a romantic relationship with her. I told them that Greg was my bonded and I was in love with him. They said it was perfect. We weren't planning to bond any more people for a while. I told Jordan that I planned to bond a couple that was romantically involved, and inseminate the female to have my children. Then I'd feed them the elixir and make them immortal. He said that would work. He was astounded that the newly bonded could masturbate to get the orgasm and still be bonded to us when it was over.

He called his mother and father and uncle to tell them what I had discovered. They were intrigued, and they all came to Moonlight Bay to bond dogs. When they had their dogs, they left again. They didn't want to live with witches. They were happy that there were now witch immortalis among them, though. Jordan said that his mother and father were back together, and his father was living in Milan with her. Roland was living in Tennessee and wanted to get back to plan his year of teaching at the college there.

The witches didn't know that any of us were Immortalis. They thought we were just friendly with a bunch of them. That was fine for now. Eventually, we'd have to tell them the truth. Some suspected I was sure. Some of the witches talked as if I would be the heir forever. I told them that I would step down when the new heir was found. They didn't know what to think about that. I told them I had my own money and that I had purchased the beach house that my family had used for vacations. Lestan had purchased the house next door to it. When I stepped down as Heir, I would move to the beach house and let the new Heir have the Manor.

It would work out. I was sure that there'd be a few bumps in the road, but it would work out in the end. We were Moreau Witches after all. Then a disturbing thing happened. Witches were dying, and no one could figure out what was going on. I found that the Arrows were back, but they weren't college age now. They were actual hunters, and they were killing witches with poison darts. There were no mundanes in Moonlight Bay at the moment, so they had free rein. Lestan and I went out with Pop and Grandpa and hunted them. We found a pack of them staying in a hunting lodge in the woods. I killed them all. Then we went in search of the head of the pack.

He came to the shelter to talk to me. He told me that they would leave if we promised not to track them. I told him that I wanted them out of Moonlight Bay and an edict needed to be handed down among their ranks that the Moreau Witches were exempted from their hunting parties. If not, I would kill every last one of them. He said he believed me. He was an older man with salt and pepper hair, and dark eyes. He was dressed like a hunter in camouflage and hunting boots. He carried a rifle, and I told him it was dangerous to be in the shelter with a rifle. The dogs wouldn't like it. He said he understood. He said that all of the Arrows would be out of Moonlight Bay by tomorrow morning. I told him that if another witch died, I would hold him personally responsible. He said he understood.

The witches that were killed were weak in the power. None of them were Moreau Witches. They were just part of the coven. Two were teenagers, and that pissed me off. The hunters left Moonlight Bay, but I knew we weren't done with them. They'd come back when they thought they had the upper hand. The problem with that was, the witches that hunted them were all immortal. Their poison darts were useless against us, and we still had our powers, so we used them to kill them.

"The dogs are immortal, too," said Lestan. "If they come back we can set the dogs on them."

"Yes," I said. "But I don't want to do that just yet. I gave them a shot. If they come back, we'll hit them with everything we have."

"It was stupid for them to come here to begin with," he said. "Do they know that we're immortal?"

"I didn't tell them," I said. "I just told them that the Moreau Witches would destroy their entire ranks if they came back."

"And we will," he said.

"Yes, we will," I agreed.

Then things got back to normal. The witches were overjoyed that I had run off the hunters. They didn't know how I had done it, they just knew that I had done it. I went home that night with my two dogs. Rex was happy to see them. I was waiting until he was full grown to bond him. It would mean bonding another dog, but I didn't care. I loved the dogs. I even loved the ones that weren't bonded to me. I spent some time with the bonded dogs to train them to fight. I had to be the one to do it because they wouldn't listen to Tommy. That was the unknown effect of bonding the dogs. They'd only listen to their bond holder.

Pop and Grandpa were amazed by the dog bond. They said that the house was full of dogs now, and they didn't want anymore. I told them that unless I bonded another dog there wouldn't be anymore. I told them that when Rex was full grown, I'd bond another dog. That was one more dog joining the house. They said that they'd be all right with that. In the end it was my decision. Until I stepped down as Heir the house belonged to me. I wasn't even sure I had to step down for a long time.

Lestan said that he loved his life now that he was Immortalis. He said that he wasn't worried about aging or dying. I told him that unless someone removed our hearts, we'd live forever. He asked if I was going to bond other people. I said that I planned to bond a couple and then inseminate the female so I could have children. Then I'd feed them the elixir and let them decided where to go from there. He said that was a good idea. He told me that he thought it was bad that I had to bond the couple to have children when all he had to do was tell Mary Beth to stop taking the pill. I told him that it was what it was.

We spent our days at the shelter and our nights with Greg and Mary Beth. Their mother was upset that they were spending so much time with us. We decided to have dinner with her at her house at least twice a week. She was happy with that. Pop told me that he understood where she was coming from, because he was upset that Lestan had been spending so much time with Mary Beth away from the family when it was happening. Now that she was bonded she was just here all of the time when we weren't at the shelter. She was the only one of us that didn't work there. She loved the dogs that Lestan and bonded, but she didn't like any others. I thought that was strange until I realized that she could feel those dogs in her head, too. I hadn't thought of that.

Greg loved the dogs that I had bonded. Rex was a little confused about the time I spent with Lady and Dexter. He played with them all of the time, but he didn't understand the bond that had formed for me and those two. I told Greg about it. He said that Rex was almost full grown. I decided to find a female in heat for Rex. I found a German Sheppard female in her first heat. I brought Rex to the shelter and fed them bonding potion and then put them in the breeding pen. As soon as he knotted inside her, I felt them in my head. Then Rex understood that both of them were my dogs now. They were more my dogs than he'd ever been before. He understood that Patches was moving into the house with the rest of us.

I had legacy work to do the following day. I got that all taken care of early. There were two loans to make decisions on. The two who wanted loans didn't meet the criteria, so I denied them. They were upset until I explained that they had to be at their current job for a year before I could approve the loans. Then they went back to work and stayed there. I had reports from construction foreman about the building of Moreau Legal and Moreau Medical in various cities. We were going national now. I had them building both in Chicago, Carbondale, St. Louis, and Jefferson City Missouri. Then I moved them to Iowa to build them in Iowa City and Demoines There were already both in Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, and New York. New York City got two of each. Chicago got two of each on opposite sides of the city. It was important for me to have them in lower financial communities and to admit patients with medicaid and medicare.

Moreau Shipping opened branches all over the east and west coasts. They told me that I had opened more of these businesses than the last four Heirs and Heiresses. I told them that I was trying to make sure that Moreau Medical and Moreau Legal were all over the United States. They liked that. They liked the fact that we were going more national. We opened both in two places in England, and four places in France. We even opened clinics in Ireland, and Moreau Legal there as well. We had family in Ireland, England, and France. They worked at these buildings in their countries.

I held a meeting with the family to catch up on all that was going on in the family. I learned about births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. I learned that the teenagers were starting their own little coven inside ours. They were working with healers to learn to heal. It wasn't their power, but there were spells that could be cast to heal people, too. Of course, people still wanted to be healed by Marcel. He was still healing people. I wasn't. I was more focused on the dog shelter.

When fall came a bunch of us joined Jordan and his bonded at Ashdon. They were thrilled to have Moreaus in the school. We had a History Department named after us. I was a business student. Greg was also a business student. Mary Beth was a veterinary student, and so was Lestan. We were all in classes and we were all popular with the students at Ashdon. A lot of them now lived in the apartment building. Of course, they were vetted thoroughly. No Arrows were among them.

It was odd for me to start my day at the shelter and then leave for classes only to come back and do homework while answering phones. Then I was home finishing my homework and doing Legacy things each day. I spent time with Greg and together we spent time with the dogs. All of my dogs were bonded now. They would fight for me, and I loved that about them. Rex and Bageera were the newest bonded dogs. They were happy to be among the rest of them now.

"How's school going?" Pop asked me after a month of classes.

"Fine so far," I said. "Nothing to major is happening in classes. I've taken quizzes and I'm doing fine. Why?"

"We haven't talked much since you started school," he said. "You're busier than ever now."

"Yes," I said. "I realize that. I don't like it, but I'll get used to it."

"You need a proxy," he said. "Someone who can do Legacy work for you."

"I don't want a proxy," I said. "I want to be the one who's doing the Legacy work. There isn't much to do now but read construction reports and file for permits to build in other states. It's tedious, but it is what it is. I don't have a project currently going. When I graduate, I'll buy more land and expand the shelter to take on cats. I won't be bonding any cats, though. I don't want one of those."

"I understand," he said. "I just think you're spreading yourself too thin. I used to say the same thing to your father when he was alive."

"Well, I don't know what my father said in return, but I'm doing fine," I said.

"Okay," he said. "What did Jordan say when you told him he could bond dogs?"

"He was amazed, and he told me that I'd found out more about how the bond works than his father and the elixir and bonding potion as spelled specifically for him."

"She had to be a very powerful witch to spell the elixir of life," he said.

"I know," I said. "Tara says she was our ancestor."

"Really?" he asked. "How does she know?"

"They have the family history all the way back to before Christ came," I said.

"That's amazing," he said.

"Tara can give you a history lesson on the family," I said. "The Illuminati gave her a bunch of records from way back when it started. They have a whole file on the Moreau Witches."

"Do they now?" he asked. "That isn't good."

"Well, they don't use the information," I said. "They just catalogue it, collect it. It's for their own knowledge from what I was told."

"Well, if that's all it is then I guess it's fine," he said.

"They have files on Witches, vampires, and there are two types of those, by the way, werewolves, and there are two types of those as well, fairies, elves, Evo, Godlings, and Demi Gods. There are even Geenies and cross breeds. They have files on the Immortalis, too."

"What is an Evo?" he asked.

"An Evo is a being that is pure energy," I said. "They make nature sing for them. They can make grass grow, flowers, trees, you name it. They can even resurrect the dead."

"That's something," he said. "They wouldn't have anything to do with us, though, would they?"

"They have no aversion to witches or the Immortalis," I said. "The only species that wants nothing to do with us as Immortalis is vampires, both types. Werewolves will leave us alone, too. Did you know that one type of werewolf is called The Forsaken? I found that out from studying some of the things that Tara and her ancestors have collected. There is so much information in her database. You can download parts of it or all of it if you ask her. She'll let you if you want to know about the family."

"I might do that," he said. "I could get answers to some questions that I have."

"Call Tara," I said. "Her number is in the directory that she passed out for the witches."

"I'll do that," he said.

Later, I was back at the shelter doing paperwork for six more dogs. We had the space, but we were getting full. I thought about expanding a bit. There was some unincorporated land that I could use. It was owned by the Legacy. I decided to get a construction team on it. I called the forman and he told me that his team was idle at the moment. I told him I wanted to expand the kennels and build more on the unincorporated land. He said he'd get on it. I told him to build a vet station there, too.

Then I just had to set funds aside to pay for materials and to pay the construction team and forman. I did that. Then I got a call from Moreau Legal to ask what all of that money was for. I told them I was expanding the dog shelter because I was running out of space to hold them. They said that was a good idea. I wasn't on the phone with them long. They just wanted to know why I was spending so much money. Well, it wasn't cheap to build the kennels and to buy the equipment for a vet station. The buildings alone would cost a small fortune. I didn't like that they were always asking me why I was spending this and that.

In classes, I was excelling. I had a head for business and it seemed that instruction was easy for me. I aced my classes. When we went into final exams for the semester, I aced those. Then we had some time off for Winter Break. Winter in Moonlight Bay was slightly cooler than summer with more fallen leaves everywhere. I raked the yard at the manor and piled the leaves for bagging. Then I went inside and fed the dogs. I got all of that done and decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping. I got things for Pop and Grandpa. Then I got things for Lestan, Mary Beth, and Greg. I even got things for Damon and Jason. I went back home and wrapped all of my presents and put them in my closet. Then I tracked down Lestan and the two of us watched movies and ate popcorn.

"You've been so busy that I rarely see you outside of the shelter," he said.

"Yeah," I said. "I've had classes to deal with, homework, shelter work, and Legacy work," I said. "They're now building more kennels and a vet station. I'll be ordering equipment for it soon."

"The Heir's work is never done," he said.

"No it isn't," I said. "I approved a loan for another feed store. This one is going in on the other side of the city, though."

"What do they need one over there for?" he asked.

"There are farms on that side, too," I said. "People are getting tired of driving all the way to Keller Village to get feed for their livestock."

"Ah," he said. "I didn't know there were farms on that side of the city."

"Well they're not in the city," I said. "They outside the city. There's still a bunch of land available to buy for the city. I've been thinking about buying it and building more houses and a park on that side of the city."

"Well, if you want to do it, then do it," he said. "The family can always use more houses. People petition the coven for entry all of the time."

"Yes," I said. "Starspun wants to be absorbed by Moondance, too. They'll need houses when I approve it."

"You're going to?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "They have no high priestess. She died and none of her children want to take it up. None of the others do either. So, I'll absorb the coven and they can be under me."

"Sounds good," he said. "How many are in that coven?"

"About sixty-two," I said.

"Yeah, buy the land and build more houses," he said.

"I plan to," I said.

Just before Christmas we absorbed Starspun. Then I bought the land and told the partners that I was expanding the city again. I hired two knew construction crews to build houses. I let people hire architects to design homes for families. Then they started to build. I told them I wanted a functioning park and dog park on that side of the city. They said they'd take care of it. Construction started, and I started to get reports from both the expansion of the shelter and the city.

I also thought about having them build a clinic and it would be Moreau Clinic. There were more doctors living in Moonlight Bay that could work for the Moreau Medical. I told them that I was having a clinic built on the west side of the city. They were all excited about it. I told them they could work there. The building went pretty fast. Six houses were finished. I let the ones who were buying them to have their people come to decorate the house and finish the doorknobs and other stuff. Six families moved into the houses before I knew what was going on. I was thrilled that they were working on them fast. Of course, magic was being spent on the houses, too. They would stand longer than other houses in the bay.

"So, what's going on with the buildings on the other side of the city?" Grandpa asked me one day at breakfast.

"They've finished six houses and six families have moved into them," I said. "They're working faster than I had thought. Of course, magic is being spent there, too. That's why the building is going so fast. They're working on the clinic now, and the witches are casting spells to get it going."

"That's great," he said. "Before too long we'll be living on that side of the city."

"It won't be long," I said. "But we have to find the Heir in Waiting for that. Or the Heiress in Waiting."

"There are many who are of an age," he said.

I decided to test cousins. The ring burned all of them. The necklace burned a lot of the girls, too. There were no Heir or Heiress in the group. Of course, I figured out that I had to have children. It would be one of them. I didn't like it, but that's what it was. Greg told me we could have children any time I decided to do it. I found a couple and bonded them. They hounded me for sex, and I told them to have sex with each other, because I was with Greg and we were a couple. That settled them down some. They went to work at the shelter as well. Well she did. He went to work at the newly finished clinic. Seven doctors went to work there. Nurses began to work there, too. Of course, they needed other people to make the clinic work. More and more people applied for the jobs. They hired as many as they could, and then the clinic opened. They had twelve more houses before Christmas. I let the buyers get their interior decorators over to them. Then they moved in. In all there were about sixty houses that were being built. They had the one bedroom houses done before I was ready. I hired an interior decorator to decorate the houses. I even bought furniture to furnish them.

Then I was inspecting the park and the dog park. They were perfect. There was equipment for the children to play on and the dogs. The dog park was closer to the beach houses. The park was in the middle of the new houses. They didn't have many houses to build. I told them to build a gathering place. That would take up the rest of the land. I could always buy more if it was needed. Someone from the state came to inspect and granted our request to expand the city. They told us that the city was spreading out like fire. I told them that it was needed to be done.

The shelter was running pretty good. The expansion was finished. I ordered equipment for the vet station. Then it would be ready for Lestan or Mary Beth to work in when they got out of school. I hired a temporary vet to come in on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work at the shelter in the new vet station. They complained that the vet station was better equipped than their offices. I told them there was nothing I could do about that.

With all of the construction was done, I had more time to spend with Greg and the dogs. The new couple, Peter and Tanya Moreau were driving me crazy. They asked what they got out of being bonded. I found an empty house and put them in it. Then I washed my hands of them in a way. Damon and Jason told me that they were unhappy because I wasn't having sex with either of them. I told them that they both knew what they were bonded for.

I used a turkey baster to inseminate Tanya. She got pregnant which I expected. She was about three months along when they discovered that they were twin boys. I was thrilled about that. It meant that I had to inseminate her one more time and then I could feed her and Peter the elixir. Damon was on board with my plan. Christmas was special for us that year. There were many gifts under the tree. I got a brand new truck, and I got a lot of things to go with it. I also got chocolate, and stuff for myself. Lestan bought me a personal massager. I bought him a massaging seat cover for his truck. Greg got a new truck and a brand new state of the art phone like Lestan and I had. Pop and Grandpa got those phones, too.

Back in classes we were busy again. I spent my time going to classes, working at the shelter, and spending time with Greg. Most of that time was doing homework. I was also there for every one of Tanya's doctor visits. She was happy now that she was pregnant. Peter was unhappy because she no longer wanted to have sex with him. I told him to use his hand. That went over like a led balloon. I told him to suck it up and be happy. He said there was nothing to be happy about. The twins were mine, and he had no wife to have sex with. I told him that she would have sex with him again when the twins were born. He said he'd figure it out.

I didn't think it would be a problem, and it wasn't. Peter stopped coming to me and bitching about Tanya not wanting to have sex with him. He bitched at Tanya. She told him to use his hand. He must have, because after another chat with me he left her alone. Damon and Jason thought it was funny. I thought it was trying my patience to the max. The children were born just as classes let out for the summer. I named them Pierre and Philip Moreau. Their middle names were Lucas and Rustan respectively.

Having infant sons was a struggle for me with classes and the shelter. In the end I decided to let the shelter run without me. I put the twins in daycare at the college and went to classes. I picked them up after my last class and took them home. I still got reports from the shelter from Damon and Jason. Then Peter and Tanya were having sex again. I decided to wait until the twins were a year old before I'd inseminate her again. They had a year to wait for the elixir. They both knew it was coming. I wanted one more child. I just hoped she didn't have twins again.

The summer went fast for me. The boys grew like weeds. I had taught them walk, but that's about all that they did. The chattered with no words for a while. I heard them say "Dada" a few times. I even heard "Gramp" a few times. "Les" was what they called Lestan. But they were growing and having fun with the dogs a lot, too. The dogs adored them. I communicated with them that they were little and not to hurt them. They didn't hurt them. They just nudged them from time to time. They'd lick their faces and make them giggle a lot.

When school started again, I was drained. I had classes that were more harder than last year. I did well though. I was at the top of the class. Lestan was right under me in that category. We had a good time at school, but it drained me. I had hands full with the twins and the dogs. I was missing the shelter. I went there about twice a week. I had classes that interested me a lot. I loved my classes and that wasn't the only thing I loved. I loved my twins and my dogs. Greg was waiting on me to have another baby. I told him that I wouldn't until the twins were a year old. That would give me another handful of boys and another baby. But Pop and Grandpa helped me a lot. The twins didn't go to daycare anymore. They stayed with Pop and Grandpa.

I decided that I wouldn't give them the elixir. They would live until they were old and then die. I didn't want more immortals in the family. I decided that once Peter and Tanya had the elixir I would destroy it and just let life go on. The twins were getting bigger as their first birthday approached. I was looking forward for it, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to have another that quickly. I knew what my plan was, but the reality of it was really hard. I decided that when their birthday came just before Christmas, I inseminated Tanya again. She got pregnant, but just after the twins' birthday she found out that it was only one baby. I was relieved by that. I didn't want another two. When the baby was born I'd give them the elixir. She had nothing to do with the twins, because she knew they weren't going to be hers. She told me that she didn't want to get too attached to them. I understood it.

The year was going fast, too. It was back to school after the New Year. The twins were talking with sentences by then. They were a year old and quite precocious. I was so proud of them. I had baby books and filled them with pictures, and the hair that I clipped off the top of their hair. It was dark. They had icy blue eyes, too. I loved that they looked so much like me. I had pictures of myself when I was their age and the looked just like me. Tanya didn't like being pregnant. She told me she would never have another. I told her that she'd change her mind in about twenty years. She laughed at that. Peter said he wanted his own children, and I wondered if he could impregnate Tanya. They'd be immortal I knew that if she bonded a male she would get pregnant by him, but could she get pregnant by Peter?

"Yes," Damon said when I asked him that question. "It won't matter if they bond anyone. They can be together and she will get pregnant from her husband. However, when they've had the elixir they might just drift apart. It happens a lot with immortals. Life together forever isn't easy."

"That's sad," I said. "Greg and I are planning forever."

"That's different," he said. "He's bonded to you. That can last for eternity, but two Immortalis don't always stay together. They might be together for twenty to forty years, but the split will happen. They can get pregnant before then but it won't stop them from drifting. You're planning to teach them to brew the bonding potion aren't you?"

"Yes," I said. "I plan to teach them to make that potion, but I don't want them to know how to make the elixir so they don't make more Immortalis."

"Well, that's understandable," he said. "I don't want them to make more Immortalis, either. However, my uncle makes more immortalis all of the time. I can barely keep up with them."

"Why does he do it that way?" I asked. He'd told me he bonded them for ten to twenty years and then gave them the elixir.

"We all do it that way," he said. "If they want out we give them the elixir or they wither and die. That's a cop out because they're dead, and we're going to continue to live. We won't replace them if we stay here in Moonlight Bay. I'm not saying we'll stay forever, but we'll be here for a long time. It's nice not to have to hide what we are."

"Yes," I said. "I can see that."

"Well, just know that they might drift apart in twenty to forty years," he said. "Forever can be a long time to be together."

"What about me and Lestan?" I asked. "Will we get tired of each other after twenty or forty years together?"

"No," he said. "You're brothers. That's a bond that can never break. You're twins, and that's a stronger bond. I played with your twins yesterday, by the way. They're adorable little guys. Pretty soon you'll have another boy or girl."

"Yeah," I said. "She's getting big. She wasn't much bigger when she carried the twins."

"Well, she might have your baby prematurely," he said. "They grow faster inside the bonded for some reason. That's why your twins were only in her womb for five months instead of six or seven."

"I wondered, but I thought it was just Tanya," I said.

"No, it's any bonded who gets pregnant," he said. "Arina has two children now. They grow faster in an Immortalis than they do in someone who is bonded."

"That would make sense," I said. "Are her children immortal?"

"No," he said. "Yours aren't either. They won't be unless you bond them and give them the elixir. You might not have to bond them because they were sired while you were Immortalis. I don't know. However, they will live a lot longer than normal people, but it won't be forever."

"It's going to be hard to watch them grow old and die," I said. "But I've made the decision not to make any more Immortalis after Peter and Tanya."

"That may change when they start to age," he said. "Never say never."

"Right," I said.

And time continued to move quickly for me. Before I knew it we were getting ready for finals and then it would be summer break. Tanya was ready to pop. She told me that she thought this baby would come any time. I sat through classes with my phone on just in case. As it happened, my daughter, Lisette was born while I was taking finals. I wasn't there for her birth like I had been for the twins. That sat wrong with me, but there was nothing to do about it. She had a head full of dark curly hair, though. She was so beautiful. Her icy eyes looked up at me as I held her. She cooed. I was in love at once.

Greg got to hold her, and Tanya wanted nothing to do with her. I gave her and Peter the elixir that very night. Damon added them to his database. They left Moonlight Bay and the coven. I didn't know why, but I suspected it was so that Tanya didn't have to see the three kids and not be able to mother them. I was fine with them leaving. I just thought it was sad. All summer I watched Lisette grow. She was named after my great great grandmother. Lisette Moreau had been the Heiress to the Legacy before she died. Maria Moreau had cast spells on her to make her catatonic and then killed her. Maria was dead when my great grandfather trapped her in the house she lived in and killed her with his mind.

The dogs at the shelter were happy to see me again. I was happy to be back. I spent the summer with Lisette in a bassinet there in the office. The twins were at home with Pop and Grandpa. I kept Lisette with me. I thought it was fitting that I named her thus. I'd read her description in the journals and saw that my baby girl had lighter brown, almost blond highlights in her curls. I would take breaks to hold and feed her throughout the day. She was a joy. She rarely cried. Greg snuck in to feed her from time to time. She was as happy in his arms as she was in mine. She was the perfect baby.

I had a gathering of the family at the Keller Center to introduce her just as I had for the twins when they were born. Everyone adored her. She was a little princess in the family. People stopped by the Manor to drop off little dresses for the baby. I had a mountain of clothes for her when they stopped. Or course, she outgrew them fast. She was crawling by the time I went back to school. She wasn't as precocious as her brothers. They adored her as well. They walked around saying that they were big brothers now. Everyone in the family loved her.

Sadly, it was time for me to leave the shelter and go back to school. I had more classes this year than the last two. I was working on the core classes for my major. Greg was, too. We both had truckloads of homework every day. We studied together and did assignments together. He had the same classes as me. Sometimes he was even in the classes with me. Everyone knew he was my lover. We had planned to get married when high school was over, but his mother had talked us out of that. She said to wait until after college was over. Of course, she didn't know that we were immortal. No one outside of the Immortalis and bonded knew that about us.

I told him to tell his mother to start planning the wedding when we went to Winter Break of our Junior Year. Lisette took her first steps shortly after we got to take break. I was there to see them. I wrote in her baby book that she took her first steps on December twelfth at nine fifteen in the morning. I even had a picture of her taking them. I was so thrilled. Greg was in awe of her. He loved every little thing she did. He was as much her father as I was. I told him so on many occasions.

I went nuts for the three of my children at Christmas. I bought them truckloads of presents. Lisette had dresses, toys, and a new playpen. The twins had trucks and cars, and toy robots that were just for their age. I got them chocolate and little things for their stockings. I even got them lots of stuffed animals for Christmas. Lisette loved tearing the wrapping paper off her gifts. She liked that more than the gifts I think. The twins loved their trucks and cars. They loved the stuffed bears and dogs I got them. Lisette loved hers, too. She had one, a stuff dog that she slept with every night. I went and bought ten more of them just to have them on hand because she was so hard on them. It was her puppy as she called it. I just took pictures of her sleeping with it and put them in her baby book. The books for each of them were getting full. I kept adding things to them.

Greg was worse. He took more pictures of them than I did. Of course, we printed them out on picture paper and made photo albums. Each child had his or her own album full of pictures of them. In the end we had to buy them each a new album to start over. Then it was time to go back to classes. I excelled in mine. Greg did, too. He said he could think of so much more at once now that he was bonded. I told him it was the same for me. I knew that his was a little less than mine, but I didn't point that out to him. We went to classes, participated in discussions, and researched a lot of things in business. We wrote papers, and did assignments. We loved our classes, but I would have given anything to be at home with my three kids. I'd never imagined I'd love them as much as I did.

By the time Summer came and Lisette's first birthday, I was ready to quit school just to be with them. I got Lisette tons of things for her birthday. Puppy had died a horrible death his seventh time through the washing machine. She had cried herself to sleep over the loss of him. For her birthday she opened a new Puppy and was delighted. She got dresses, and lots of toys, but her favorite present was Puppy the second. The twins got one gift each on her birthday. It was so that they would leave her presents alone. They got toy puppies that barked and walked. They had to feed them with a bottle and everything. They loved them.

I went back to the shelter, and Lisette went with me. She carried Puppy into the office and we nearly had a mishap when one of the dogs decided to try and take it from her. She held on and I got the dog to let go. I communicated that the toy was hers and not his. He whined once and then went to lie down in the dog bed. I was adopting him out that morning, and the new owner, one of the Starspun families came to pick him up. They paid the fee, and I gave them his birth certificate and all of his paperwork from the vet. I even sold them a big bag of food. They left happy.

My days were filled by the shelter. We had forty dogs now. I was hard pressed to communicate with all of them. I tamed the feral ones with communication. They all thought it was a miracle, but I reminded them that I was a witch. They laughed at that. We had dogs going out and dogs coming in. My original thought to expand to other species died when I saw the shelter full of dogs. I just didn't want to add more species. It was a dog shelter, and that was all there was to it.

Each dog in the shelter was a rescue. Those that came from puppy farms had to be healed of this and that. Those who came from neglect just had to be taught that there were loving people in the world that had their best interests at heart. Those that had been abused were the toughest to tame and get back to normal, but I did it. I was the puppy whisperer.