Sam awoke in her bed the next morning feeling better than ever. She was quite positive that at one point one of them had carried her to bed and they had all laid down with her. Before they had left, someone had pulled the curtains open for her, so the sun could bathe her warmly. It flooded her room with warm summer light, and for a moment she just stood by the window, letting it bathe over her. It felt delicious and tingly on her skin as she stretched lazily. The May showers were nearly over, and summer was making itself known a little more every day. In the meadow, bright red flowers were starting to bloom among the grass. As she wondered where they came from, a mother red fox and her litter of kits came out of the forest and bounded playfully into the soft tall grass. She laughed and smiled as she watched them, feeling an odd sense of freedom.

When she turned back to the room, she noticed that there were several large, white boxes stacked up against the wall opposite the windows with a blue sticky note attached that read For You. Curious, she walked over and opened one.

Inside was a brand new wardrobe. From socks and panties to jeans and boots to the finest of dresses and nightgowns. Like her, the wardrobe was eclectic, not quite matching one style, but instead displayed a beautiful array of several. She immediately loved everything, down to the plain white ankle socks.

After going through all of them thoroughly and organizing them in her closet, she picked out a white halter top sundress to wear. The fabric was a sheer linen, and fell to just below her ankles. As she tied the straps in the mirror, she realized she looked slightly different from before.

She was still herself, only a little better. Her long, copper hair had gained more curls, and held no static or frizz whatsoever. Her eyes were still mostly honey brown, but they seemed illuminated now with a spark of new life. Flecks of black, green, and blues had appeared mixed among the brown, making them look like two tiny galaxies suspended above her nose.

Looking down at her hands, she noticed that her nails, that which she had kept short before, were now long, and pointed. Touching them, she found them to be naturally well manicured, and strong. She touched them to her cheeks, and when she smiled she closely inspected her teeth. A sliver of disappointment slid through as she saw no change to her canines. She loved the way her guys’ flashed in the light anytime they talked, and found it incredibly sexy.

After she was ready, she went downstairs looking for the guys. With each day her skills seemed to be growing, and she found them easily in the well-shaded part of the lawn off of the kitchen like the day before. Once downstairs, she looked through the window. This time they were not simply lounging, but practicing their fighting skills.

She watched, transfixed as Sulma picked Amaa up as if he were nothing more than a tiny stone and hurled him against a tree. But Amaa was as quick as Sulma was strong. Midair, he flipped so that he could dig his fingernails into the bark of the tree, using his momentum to swing around it like a pole and land softly on his feet.

The moment he did he slapped Taas’s hand, tagging him in. Holding his palms out, she watched as bloody flames shot up from them, making her gasp. Holding his palms parallel, the flames grew into the size of a baseball before Taas hurled it at Aruum, who barely dodged it.

It took all she could to pull herself away from the scene to go into the kitchen, but she was famished from the night before. On the kitchen island she found someone had already brewed her a pot of coffee and laid out a cup, sugar, and creamer. Beside it sat a basket, overflowing with fresh pastries. She picked out a strawberry and creme danish, grabbed a book from the library, and went out to the patio to read and watch her vampires train more.

As she sipped her coffee and nibbled her breakfast, she read through the first few pages of the book she chose. It had turned out to be an extremely old diary, kept by a beloved who had been claimed by six vampires. She tried to picture handling any more than four, and she laughed aloud at the impossibility of it. The beloved had taken great notes on her rising powers. Like her, she had developed heightened senses at first, then was soon able to track them. She was able to immediately find them if they were hurt or in danger. Reading on, she was able to catch a glimpse into what other gifts she would accrue. What intrigued her most, aside from the ability to heal her claimed, was the ability to connect to the spirit world.

Ghosts were not exactly scientific but neither were vampires or dragons, both of which she now knew were very much real. The beloved went into detail about how she first connected with them, then used their pain to defeat an enemy. It seemed like a powerful tool, and she tucked a piece of paper into the book for reference.

Wanting a break, she closed the book and looked up to see how training was going. They were all shirtless now, their well-formed muscles moving with strength and grace as they parried and jabbed, challenging one another to fight harder, better. Sam had seen movies about vampires before. She’d seen how quickly CGI could make them move, but watching them do so in real life was a completely different experience, awe-inspiring even. They weren’t just fast either, but they were also graceful. It was like watching savage dance for power. Each of them challenged each other more than the other, pushing them to be faster, better.

Amaa was surprisingly the quickest, she decided, but Sulma was the strongest. He could make and take the hardest hits. Taas was great at movement. He zigzagged in untraceable patterns until he was suddenly right in front of his attacker landing a bullseye hit. But the more he practiced with his flames, the quicker he got at calling them forth. His aim was improving with every throw. Aruum was keeping up, but also having the toughest time. From her point of view, she noticed that he kept shaking his wrists out.

Closing her eyes, she mentally reached for him. There was a pain building up in his wrists. Something intrusive, and not at all normal. It was as if a mass of some sort was gathering quickly.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Sulma pushing him to go harder. It was then that Aruum roared in pain and fell to his knees. It was a bestial call, unlike any she’d ever heard before. Whatever was happening was not normal, and she knew he needed her. Immediately Sam abandoned her coffee and ran to them, her heart pounding in her chest like a jackhammer. The moment she approached them they opened to let her into the circle they’d formed around Aruum. Going to her knees, she pulled him into her lap and took his left arm into her hands. Something was pushing up out of his wrists, like a red bone of some sort that slid out of his skin in long, pointed spikes.

He growled like a beast as they finally finished pushing themselves out and landed in the grass, long red spikes. Immediately his wrists began to heal, as if nothing ever came out of them in the first place. His pain ebbed back down quickly, and less than a minute later it disappeared altogether.

“What the hell is that?” Sam asked, looking at the spike as if it were a poisonous snake. “Where the hell did that come from?”

To her surprise, Aruum looked at her with a silly smile, and the group began to chuckle in relief.

“That’s badass, brother,” Amaa said, pointing to the area where the red blood bone shards lay.

“Congrats man,” Sulma agreed, fist bumping Aruum.

“Wait a minute,” Sam said, holding up her hands. “We’re happy about this? Why?”

“It’s a new gift,” Aruum explained, getting up from the ground. He reached his hand down to her and waited until she took it. “From you,” he finished, pulling her in for a hug. When he let her go his eyes travelled over her, and he grinned boyishly. “You look beautiful today, by the way.

Sam looked down at him incredulously. “From me?” She blushed, “and thank you. Is this like with Taas and his fire?”

“Precisely,” Taas replied. He snapped his fingers and a flame erupted. “Faster than usual, I might add.”

“The more your powers grow the more ours grow,” Sulma explained, smiling widely.

“So you’re okay?” She asked, turning back to Aruum.

“More than okay,” he promised. He looked over her head to his brothers and grinned.

“Let’s go again,” he told them, pounding his fists together triumphantly. “I’ve got some training to do.”