63 Baby Bat

With Devin in tow, Talia went back to the watchtower to clean Devin up. The witch had forced her to push Devin down into the dirty floor which meant he now needed a bath.

She seethed with anger. If it wasn't for the fact that she had to protect Devin, she would have jumped from that spot and gave Evelyn the beating of her life.

As she prepared warm water for the small tub that she had set in front of the warm pot belly stove, Devin sat staring at the fire.

He seemed focus on the flames for some reason, but Talia was too busy trying to make the water warm enough for him that she missed the focused squint he was forming on his little cherubic face.

"Alrighty. Take off your clothes Devin. We're just going to clean you a bit. Your hair is filthy from the—"

Talia's voice choked off as she turned towards him.

Sitting on the bed was a half-naked little boy with blond hair and light brown bat wings unfurled from his back.

He had taken off his shirt by himself and reached out to hand it to her.

Talia wordlessly took the soiled shirt from his little hand, still staring at the wings.

Deep breaths Talia, deep breaths, she told herself. This child is half vampire. It is part of his nature to be able to do this.

She had to compose herself and chill her response to his shapeshifting. She could not make him feel as if what he had done was a bad thing. It was in his genetic makeup after all.

This boy was a hybrid vampire.

"How did you do that?" She pointed at his soft leather wings.

Devin giggled. "Uncle Van."

It was all he said, but the meaning was clear. At some point in their interaction, Vander had shown Devin how to manifest wings and Devin had taken to it like a duckling to water.

The first chance he got once he returned to the room was to try to emulate his uncle.

"Oh wow." Talia breathed. "Good job, Devin. Now you can fly." She closed her eyes, "…and I'm in big trouble. How am I going to keep up with you…"

Devin laughed as he poked at his wings with baby fingers.

"What's this?" He asked.

"Those are called wings. You have wings, Darling."

"Wings." He repeated. "Devin wings."

"Yes. Devin wings."

He pointed at Talia. "Maaaamaaa wings?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't have wings. Only a few special people like you have wings."

"Uncle Van wings." Devin informed her with serious eyes.

"Yes, I know Uncle Van has wings. I've seen them."

"Look like Devin wings?" Devin asked, wanting to know if Vander's wings were the same as his.

Talia nodded. "Hmm. Yours looks just like his, but smaller. Uncle Van has very big wings."

"Big wings." Devin reached his arms out as far as he could reach.

"Yes, but that's because Uncle Van is bigger than you. When you grow up, you will have big wings too."

Devin seemed happy to hear that and he continued to play with his baby wings.

At the moment, they were too small to be of any use to him as far as flying was concerned, but Talia knew the day would come when he discovered flying. It would be a terrifying day for her because she would no longer be able to follow him and protect him.

She needed to talk to Vander about that, but first things first.

"Okay. Can you put the wings away for now so I can bathe you?" Talia turned back to the little boy.

"Wings." Devin pouted, flapping them back and forth with pride.

"You need to put them away so you don't damage them." Talia reasoned with him. "We need to take a bath. After the bath, you can play with them again."

Devin, being the good little boy, folded back his wings and they disappeared into his shoulder blades.

Talia took off the last of his clothing and took him to the tub.

She had almost finished bathing him when the door opened, letting in the colder air from outside the hallway. It also brought into the room the familiar scent of Cedric Blaxtone.

"It seems as if the two of you had a busy morning." Cedric chuckled as he came in. His dark suit looked soggy, as if he had been outside.

She picked up the damp boy with a large warm towel and turned to Cedric.

"All we did was have breakfast." She grinned. "Come over by the fire and warm yourself. I'll heat up some water so you can clean yourself and change into some dry clothes.

"Thank you Love." He sighed with contentment and leaned down to press a kiss onto her lips.

She quickly dried the boy and dressed him in warm soft clothes. Then, while he sat on the bed playing with his bear, Talia got busy getting warm water for Cedric's bath in the adjoining bathroom.

"I heard you and Devin taught the entire group of battle-hardened men how to sing the 'Raining' song." Cedric began stripping off his wet clothes as he made his way into the bathroom.

Talia laughed. "It wasn't me. It was Devin and Vander."

"Oh? Vander can sing?" Cedric raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Uncle Van sing." Devin laughed as he informed Cedric.

"Vander's a terrible singer," Talia admitted with a chuckle, "but it doesn't stop him from singing along with Devin. He really enjoys being with Devin, and Devin seems to like him too."

"And what about you?" Cedric asked from the bathroom as he eased himself into the steaming tub. "How do you feel about Vander?"

Talia made her way into the bathroom and pulled a stool up next to Cedric's tub.

His long blond hair was damp and full of tangles so she took a brush and a small bottle of oil out and began teasing the tiny knots from the ends of his hair.

"How am I supposed to feel about him?" She threw him a loaded glance. "I just met him. I know nothing about him, and on top of that, he tried to abduct me."

"But you seem to have warmed up to him."

"Only because he treats Devin well." Talia admitted. "But why the interrogation? I thought you told me that we are 'mates'. Isn't that supposed to imply something?"

She continued to brush his hair gently. Wherever he had gotten himself to, there were bits of broken twigs snarled inside his hair.

"We are most definitely mates." He confirmed, leaning back against the tub. "And don't you ever forget that."

"Hmm. No worries about that, since we talk all the time mentally." She laughed. "It's hard to forget someone who chats in my ear all day."

"Besides, doesn't 'Mate' mean you're my boyfriend now?" Talia smiled, working the oil through his hair so that she could get the last of the knots out.

"Boy—boyfriend?" Cedric muttered and opened his amber eyes. What in the world was she talking about?

He was neither a boy, nor was he her friend.