As I sat in a chair, watching tired, or soon-to-be-tired, children running around in their Christmas attire, showing adults what they had received as a Christmas presents, I realized that getting them to sleep would take time.
Mariella rolled her eyes again as she stood up and took one of his sons, who had only recently learned to walk, out of the vicinity of one of the larger trees; there was no need for him to be stabbed by pine needles.
My five were crawling and attempting to eat everything, but my toddlers were eager to tend to them, and they dragged them to sit and gave them toys, explaining how to play; even my babies had not yet developed many ideas.
I was wearing a stretchy and comfortable red velvet dress, and my feet were bare because I couldn't use my slippers when my babies wanted to taste them. I watched as Jesse found one of the dust balls, making May sigh and plucking it out of his hands, giving him a rattle instead. He was feeling a bit eager, so he hit poor Luca in the back of the head with it and giggled.
Luca was starting to think about wailing, but before I could get up, number two picked him up and shushed him, so he didn't get too upset while he ran his palm over his head, making sure there was no scrape or sting left and Luca could focus on his tower where he was piling blocks. However, Sabrina arrived as number two put Luca down, turned him over, handed him one small teacup, and began to explain how they were now having tea time and eating cakes.
Damon was sitting next to Mariella, and as she returned to him, they kissed passionately. Number three, who was on the other side of her, also pulled her closer and loved her, which irritated her because the Salvatores were teaching her how to love, how to make pure love without lust, and it was easy or fun for her because she wanted to be the lust queen. She had a stubborn streak.
Wulfe was sitting on the sofa next to Adam and Charles, and the boys who were also keeping an eye on the kids and older girls, all eight of them, were sitting nearby, so the kids had a lot of eyes on them, and there was always an adult ready to intervene if there was a threat.
I was feeling naughty again, this time towards Mariella, and when I noticed her plan to get some lust going, I knew it wasn't going to happen; it was time to let love in again. Wulfe got my idea, well, not my exact idea, but my plan, which was for Mariella, making him smile slightly.
I leaned back and let out a brief burst of my pheromones; boys and men were unaware of these, but Mariella was, as I had used them during my interrogation. Despite her attempts to convince everyone she was fine, it was not the case, and this was my first attack.
She tensed slightly, leaned more into Damon's security, and emitted certain pheromones, causing number three, who was very skilled at pheromones, to take her closer and give her more love and protection. Funny, this type of fear did not invite Charles to protect Mariella, as he had his own plans for me.
The next step was a brief flicker of one expression on my face as Mariella glanced at me; I looked at her like a victim, a small piece of meat, or someone I wanted to hurt for good, heightening her fear and uncertainty, and snippets of my memories and what I'd done resurfaced in her mind despite all of Salvatores' cleaning efforts.
I could tell in the hive that numbers six, seven, and eight were sending her love and protection because they sensed her distress. Lust was quickly forgotten as she was once again something to be protected and cherished.
This entire Christmas week had been a rollercoaster of activities, and with eager children in the mix, things had been extremely hectic. Our pack was quite large, so food was required, despite the fact that babies do not eat as much as adults. Still, they had their own needs, just as toddlers did, and the fact that Mariella and I were pregnant added to the complication, but this was family life, which I treasured.
Twinkling lights, the smell of pine and Christmas, and the eagerness and pure joy emanating from the children made this perfect, and I didn't want Mariella to ruin it with her lust, so I stopped it from happening.
I felt in the hive that most of the pack members were actually happy for me doing what I did because they, too, wanted this to be Christmas, not just another day for Mariella to rule with her pussy. She still lacked self-control, which I was teaching her.
I could keep her under control for now, and the time for some lust would come later, but not right now; this was a celebration for kids, not for her, and it was time for her to grow the fuck up and start acting like an adult. Not ruled by her hormones or pussy.
As crude as it may sound, it was exactly what she was about. She had named herself "lust queen," and it stuck, so she did not even try to do better because she was lust queen in her soul and she felt it was all she was, not a savior.
So much as it was hard, took some effort, and now pregnant, feeling all kinds of pains, aches, and discomfort, it was easier for her to be a lust queen, burying herself in sex for weeks or months, hoping that Damon would soon operate on her so she could get her function back and then maybe have perfect family time with Damon. She had simple ideas, and I was not going to let them come true.
I had several orders pending, including not only flowers but also wire wrapping and a few other ideas and items such as dream catchers, trees, and miniature mushrooms. And as I discovered from hamster storage, there were quite a few huge boxes full of carvings made out of gemstones. Some of which were quite large; girls had taken pictures of them and put some of them on our website to be sold, while others went to Wulfe to be used for God knows what.
And a few of the carvings he had given me to handle and think about certain types of ideas, not just carnal ones, but like my purest love, which, according to Wulfe, was one of our pack's strongest powers, or there was one obsidian carving that he wanted me to think about dark ideas, torturing, not taking my darkness per se, but allowing my enjoyment of hurting others to come to mind. In one bloodstone, he wanted me to give up my vampire powers.
He had his ideas, and he needed a certain type of power or feeling from me so he could do potions and spells to help me, heal me, and disconnect my feelings and emotions from my bloodlust.
He had told me it was a long-term project, but this gave him a starting point, and he told me that he might tinker with some potion in the past over 20 years, just for me to know that this was not fast or easy in any way because my powers were complex, and the entire operation was delicate, but at the same time it was demanding and time-consuming as well.
I welcomed the Christmas holiday, knowing that things would be hectic afterward for a variety of reasons. The first was our culvert situation, which meant lower taxes and possible compensations took some time to calculate and grant to us, but we needed to move the project forward, which meant hiring a crew to take care of it, and it was certainly not a cheap business.
As a result, money was needed, so everyone who could work, even if only part-time, had to. I mean us as well. So, I had carried my babies to 36 weeks the last time, and I was now in week 18, which meant 30 weeks would be the beginning of March, so we had time, several months, and my maternity leave might begin at the end of February or even later, so it was not yet time to put my feet up and let everyone else handle everything.
It would be a stressful, busy time, but once those compensations and whatnot arrived, things would calm down a little, Adam. Charles and Damon were negotiating with several businesses about this project and making calculations, but every penny counted, and as strange as it sounded, I enjoyed this type of challenge as well. I didn't want everything to be easy or without struggle, because that made it all worthwhile, and when things eased up, we'd be able to enjoy the fruits of our labor and be proud of what we'd accomplished.
Mariella cuddled up next to salvatores, all vulnerable and in need of some TLC, but not me. Mariella seemed to irritate me a lot during this pregnancy, and I was unsure why.. My blood pressure shot up, and a few snappy sentences popped into my head, making Wulfe smirk. As usual, he was as deep in my mind as possible, looking for those memories, feelings, and sensations, as well as whatever else he could find there.
I could feel him almost sometimes poking something, trying to make me think something nasty so he could zero in, but I was now focused on this holiday with kids and babies, smiling thinly as Mariella once again grunted as she pushed herself up from one of our softer sofas to once more stop one of now Damon's sons from strangling himself into Christmas lights. Girls were busy with her trio, helping to open presents and talking to them, and her six had truly found their feet and were walking everywhere, always finding something nasty, needing adult intervention.
My five older children were all over the place, with so many adults and so many presents. Seraphina was proudly showing her new dress to number eight and attempting to persuade him to dress her in it, but it was not yet time, and the true love that shone from number eight's face was perfect because he had chosen that dress for Seraphina. Dash was in front number one with his play sword, ready to fight Daddy, while Darien was engrossed in his new book and focused on it.
It appeared that he had also picked up on my hyper-focus. Sadie was busy moving my babies and talking to them as my babies tried to play with their rattles and whatnot, but Sadie moved them and talked to them. She was like a mommy, and these were her babies, which reminded me of stories my mother told me about when I was a baby, about how my sister had done this to me.
I guess it's a bit universal, and everything was fine. This was family life at its best, and despite all of the drama and difficulties we had faced and might face in the future, I couldn't be happier right now, unless, of course, Mariella spoke or attempted to interact with me, which would increase my irritation and irritability. However, this was pack life and one damn perfect Christmas. As a family.
I had plans for the night because we were having a Christmas feast tomorrow, and I wanted to decorate a few cakes. I knew Salvatores had not done any of those, but they had all sorts of small nibbles and finger food reserved, as well as ice cream and other goodies. I had a few good ideas and was planning on making maybe five cakes; one cake would normally feed twelve people.
That's for humans, but if we weren't humans, we'd eat a lot more, and we'd need a lot of cakes. I also had five different fillings and a few different sponges on hand, so each of us could choose what flavor they wanted, including the kids.
I had two different chocolate versions, two white sponges, and one orange-flavored one, so I had options, and in the dead of night, while others were sleeping or doing god knows what, I would spend my time in the kitchen experimenting with buttercream and other ingredients.
Wulfe, a romantic, wanted Damon to be with me rather than Mariella, as other Salvatores would teach her how to love and create love energy. I was just sitting there. Damon plucked a few different decoration styles and nozzles from my mind, and a slight smile crept across his face as yet another opportunity to spend time with me was presented to him so perfectly.