Epilogue

~Timeskip 23 years~

No one's POV:

"That can't be it, mom! There must be more than just that!" a red-haired teenage girl with dark, intense eyes stated.

"Of course there is, Amanda. Long story short: That vampire got cocky and paid the price at the hands of the werewolf. He and his soul-mate had the most amazing adventures of their young lives which followed through adulthood and parenthood, I think. Either way, they remained together because of the soul-mate principle. They were lucky to find each other young" the red-haired woman told her daughter with a confident smile. The woman's beautiful hazel eyes seemed to laugh knowingly at the story she had just told. As if she had purposely missed out an important factor that her daughter and son hadn't picked up on at all. Neither of the children realised the story was actually a 'How I met your father' story.

The little boy beside her reached over, pulling at his mother's long red curls. I say little but he was actually 12, he was definitely little compared to his sister and his father. He had his mother's eyes and looked exactly like his father. "Mom! Where did dad get to?" he asked her suddenly.

"He'll be home soon, Ryan. Why don't you and Amanda go check on Celine in case she's having nightmares again and then get yourselves to bed? You've both got school tomorrow" She replied.

"Mom, I'm 15 years old! I'm not a kid any more!" Amanda groaned.

"Neither am I. And I'm 12!" Ryan remarked in an irritated tone.

"Amanda Katrina Sands and Ryan Edward Sands, you do as you're told this minute!" their mother warned with fire in her eyes. When they saw the fire in her eyes, the teenage sister and the pre-teen brother had no choice but to check on their younger sister; their mother could be scary when provoked, if you hurt her children especially her youngest she would fight you with her bare hands.

Mind you, the children's father was much worse whenever he was provoked. All you had to do to piss him off was either hurt any of his three kids or his wife. The kids knew this, even though they had never seen their father pissed off. Not like their mother had. They only knew what Auntie Jordan, their dad's older sister, told them of their father's temper.

"Jeez, Mom's so scary. Her mood swings are out of whack again" Amanda muttered.

"Yeah, she can be as crazy as shit" Ryan agreed.

Now if his parents were to ever hear Ryan swear, his father would clunk him on the head and demand where he had picked it up while his mother would ground him and then deal with who or what Ryan had picked the word up from. Ryan took after his father, the only trait of his mother's he had inherited were her eyes – which is why his father never stayed mad at him for long.

The mother, who turned out to be our dear friend Charlie made herself comfortable in the living room. "Only two more years until it's time to tell them. At least Hunter would be able to teach Ryan how to handle the curse" she sighed as she waited for her werewolf husband to return. Isn't it hard to believe that a gentle 14 year old girl like Charlie grew up to be the kind mother she is now?

Later the front door opened and a tall man with shaggy brown hair and intense dark eyes entered; it was Hunter Sands. Isn't it a surprise how a trouble-making 14 year old boy grew up to become a loyal, overprotective husband and father? He hung his leather jacket on one of the pegs by the front door before entering the living room. He softened at the sight of his red-haired wife asleep on the sofa. Again. "Typical of you, Charlie. Only you would wait up for me" he chuckled.

Hunter took a moment to watch Charlie sleep. She had grown into her small, wiry figure, her body shaped by a red summer dress. Her skin remained milky white, like it had been when they met. Her red curls cascaded over her face. Her hands lay by her head, her left finger sported the platinum (The engagement rings had to be platinum because silver would kill Hunter) and gold rings he gave her when they were engaged then married; she took his last name and became Charlie Sands. He was lucky he found her young. Not many people, let along a werewolf, find their soul-mates at all.

Slipping an arm under her legs and wrapping his other arm around her back, he lifted her and carried her up to their room. His sensitive ears easily picked up on his only son playing on his X-box, his eldest daughter on her phone to her best friend and his youngest daughter mumbling in her sleep, thankfully the little girl wasn't having any nightmares about evil vampires hunting down their family. How Hunter knew this, he could sense it. He often wondered how he had gotten so lucky.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, Hunter gently placed his Charlie on their bed. He lay beside her, wrapping his arms around her small frame. People often found it touching that he was very faithful to his wife and was very overprotective of his family; it annoyed Amanda and Ryan but Celine regarded it the way Charlie always did – that Hunter was trying to keep them safe.

Gingerly, Hunter felt the small noticeable scar on Charlie's neck. The mark he gave her when they first mated and claimed her. Which had led to having Amanda. Smiling at the memory, Hunter kissed the mark. What you may not know is that werewolf's mark symbolises that the soul-mate has been claimed and no mortal can harm them without alerting her werewolf. That means that if Charlie got hurt, Hunter would immediately know about it since he could hear his wife's thoughts and he would do everything possible to protect her.

Every one of their kids had inherited Hunter's werewolf curse; it would be stronger in his son than in his daughters but thanks to his wife's unusual genetics, it was enhanced to the point where Amanda and Celine Sands' senses were sharp but not like their brother's would be in adolescence and nothing like their father is now. Hunter had considered turning Charlie into a werewolf but decided against it. He loved Charlie the way she was and he never wanted her to suffer like he or his uncle had just by being bloodline werewolves.

"Hey, you're home" Charlie remarked as she opened her eyes and turned onto her back to look up at her husband.

"How did the gynaecologist's appointment go?" Hunter asked.

Charlie smiled. "It's a boy, Hunter. We're going to have a healthy baby boy" she told him.

Hunter put a hand on his wife's stomach. "Charlie. Do you think we're good parents?" he asked.

"I don't think we are good parents, Hunter, I know we are good parents. We have our natural instincts, those don't kick in until we become parents, we can sense what our family needs. Besides you keep forgetting, my dear husband, werewolves are naturally pack animals, like the wolf and, believe it or not, humans. Our family is our pack" Charlie reassured him.

"Good thing I have you" he replied.

"Oh, I told the kids our story. But I didn't tell them it was us. And I'm not going to tell them until a month after Ryan's 14th birthday, along with their werewolf heritage. Unless they work it out first from the story" she told him.

"Why his 14th birthday?" Hunter asked.

"That's the age you were when you first transformed, Hunter. The difference is that you can teach our son to handle having the werewolf curse that's in his blood. The same curse that run through yours. And we were 14 when we found each other" Charlie reminded him, patting his cheek before kissing it. "Now let's get some shut-eye" she sighed, shifting onto her side again.

Before going to sleep, Hunter kissed Charlie. His arms tightened around her, keeping her and his unborn son close. "Yep, I'm the luckiest man in the world" he chuckled.

In her room, Celine woke up; this time she dreamt her father had transformed into a werewolf and fought the vampires. "Celine Wendy Sands, what are you thinking? Those things don't exist" she told herself. But she had her doubts. She caught her reflection the mirror. The eight year old looked exactly like her mother. Celine wondered talking to her siblings about the nightmares. Amanda would've snapped at her for being silly. Ryan would've punched her.

Celine reached under her pillow and pulled out a photo. She had been rooting through her father's things when she found that photo. She had kept it ever since. The photo had three people in it; a brown-haired boy, a red-haired girl and a tall brown-haired girl. The boy had an arm around the red-haired girl who was grinning because he had kissed the side of her head. Their hands were interlaced. The red-haired girl was waving at the camera. The tall girl was watching the young couple with a smile. The red-haired girl had curly hair. The boy's smooth brown hair stuck out whereas the older girl had straight hair. They were sat on the steps of Wolfsberg Manor.

Celine knew it was her parents and her aunt when they were younger. "Mommy and daddy look so happy" she giggled. They married and had me, Amanda and Ryan. "Hmm, Daddy looks a lot like Ryan. I always wondered why Mommy always said that Ryan takes after Daddy" she mumbled. From the wonky angle, Celine guessed it was Goran, her mother's cousin who took the photo.

After she put the photo under her pillow, Celine got out of bed and wandered over to her parents' room. She quietly climbed on the mattress and squeezed in-between them to curl up. She woke her father. "Did you have a nightmare?" Hunter asked. Celine nodded. "Celine, it can't hurt you, I won't let it happen. Not to my family" he reassured her, calming her enough to lull her to sleep. Hunter then got back to sleep, holding Charlie and their daughter close to him.