He chewed on his lip some more, which was not a good sign. It was a sign of apprehension.
“I know someone.”
“But?”
He glowered at me. “But, he is not human.”
“Well, that doesn’t seem to be a problem since everyone around me except Sera doesn’t seem to be exactly human. And you said that there are beings out there that are not human and are still good.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
It soon dawned on me. "This person that you know is not exactly ‘good,' is he?"
Sera squirmed some more.
“Well, he’s not exactly Scelestus. Well, not anymore at least.”
“And we’re supposed to trust him!” Sera exclaimed, understanding what that would mean to hand me over to an opposing side.
Finn shot his hand out to explain. “Look, he came to me. He offered.”
As if that would be enough. Neither of us looked convinced.
“You know I would never let anything happen to Caden. I trust him. Trust me,” Finn pleaded with Sera.
Sera and I both sighed and looked at each other. What else were we supposed to do? I guessed I could join a karate center, but I would probably harm all those humans. Sera looked like she was thinking the same. The truth was I did trust Finn, so that meant I would have to trust his judgment. This being wouldn't hurt me if Finn said he wouldn't. Glancing one more time at Sera, she rolled her eyes in defeat, and I shrugged.
"Okay. When do we meet your friend? And where?" Sera relented.
Finn didn’t change his mood. There was no giddiness in him that he won his argument. He was still solemn.
“I just have to make a phone call.”
✽✽✽
Sera said she didn’t feel comfortable letting a supernatural creature that was on a dividing line between Good and Evil into our house. I didn’t blame her. So, we ended up back at the school in the gym. Even for a Sunday, the place was really empty. No sports, no nothing.
Again we had the gym to ourselves. We were supposed to meet my future sensei at four, and he was late. I stood around with Sera and Finn in a pair of grey sweatpants and a purple tank top. I looked like I was ready to work out and then go to bed right after. I didn't even bother combing my hair; just put it up in a messy ponytail. Finn and Sera still wore their worn-out clothes, covering them with fall jackets.
I was pacing back and forth, impatiently and watched as Sera glared at me like I was a caged animal; before I stopped for a moment, facing the doors to the main entrance. I smelled the male before he entered the gym and my body warmed. I recognized the wilderness smell and the scent that I couldn’t pick out before. Now I knew what it was as I closed my eyes and inhaled further: evergreen musk and spice. It was subtle, but I knew I would never forget it and I would always recognize it as his.
I couldn't help the internal heat that this vampire could extract with his mere essence. I knew he would ridicule me again and this time it would be in front of witnesses. I took this attraction and transferred it to irritation, which was not too difficult to do. Especially since his arrogance and his being just irritated me. No, I would not allow myself to be attracted to this male.
“Impressive,” he drawled in a voice that carried from the back locker room; steady, but not loud.
I turned around to my new instructor as he exited from the locker room entrance into the gym. Now, in a more lit area and with my new skills, I was able to make out more of him. His hair was more of a brown than a black in the light. I could almost describe it as a mahogany color with streaks of black. It still looked like bed-head. I stuck to my estimation of his physical age, making him look about twenty-five when he was turned. I let myself ignore his rigid handsomeness that even a pair of black sweatpants and the palest skin I had ever seen couldn't diminish. My eyes traveled up to his chest. Perhaps it was the blacktop under an opened light black jacket that did me in. I could clearly see every muscle, every ridge underneath there. Yep, I was done for. My desire started to betray me. I concentrated on the words he spoke to me before.
Nothing, but a child. Hold onto that thought, I repeated in my head. The irritation returned, and I grabbed hold of it.
He smirked at me without showing his teeth, giving me more control of my emotions. I was going to beat the living shit out of him and humble that arrogance.
“She has made contact with the ley-line, I see.”
“Thank you for coming, Sani,” Finn broke our exchange.
I raised my eyebrows, wishing my eyebrows were independent of each other so that I could give more of an intimidating glare. No such luck.
“Sani? You said your name was Zane.”
Both Finn and Sera glanced in my direction. Zane’s . . . or Sani’s expression saddened.
“Sani was a very long time ago.” He took off his jacket and placed it on the bleachers before approaching us, giving me a better look at the rather large muscles he had been hiding underneath. Again, his skin was so pale that the veins below stood out in contrast, and yet it still didn’t deter me.
“You know him?! Caden, when did you met him?!” Sera exclaimed, grabbing onto my arm almost ready to pull me out of the gym and drag me home.
“Yeah, I know him,” I sighed. “He’s the vampire I encountered a few nights ago while you were on your date.”
She looked infuriated, and I could even smell her anger like burnt rubber. Her grip on my arm tightened.
“How can we trust you?” She spat.
He held up his hands in defense. "I didn't hurt your sister. She got home safely. Just like I told her that night, I only wanted to talk with her." He grinned, remembering that evening; probably my attraction, and my fear.
“Do you know how scared she was because of you?!” Sera pointed her finger aggressively at him. I had to give her props. She had more guts than I did with my first encounter with Zane.
Instead of him showing any emotion of regret, he just grinned harder in satisfaction, exposing the tip of those two fangs that he had flashed me once before.
“Sera, I don’t think it’s wise to taunt a vampire. They only get off more when they know they have affected someone like that,” Finn whispered to her, probably forgetting that I could hear him. And if I could, I knew Zane could too.
“Look, you guys asked me here. I could go,” he threatened.
Finn put up his hands to stop him and said something in the same language that he had used with Ajax. I still couldn't comprehend any of it, but I tried to see if it was comparable to any other language that I knew. It sounded a little Slavic from my experience with my German class, but it was more rhythmic like the Elvish I had heard from those Lord of the Rings movies. It was definitely not a language that I could place. Finn's words were heated, and Zane's face paled further, if at all possible, from the reaction.
Even though I couldn’t translate, from their reactions, the message was clear. Somehow Zane owed Finn, and this was his repayment. Zane spat something back that wasn't exactly angry, nor was it submissive. There was another glare between the two, and then Zane glanced at me wolfishly before clapping his hands finishing that awkward section of our meeting. Finn pushed me forward, forcing Sera to let go of my arm.
“What do we have here?” Zane circled around me almost checking me out, but I knew it was more from a predatory perspective, not attraction. An animal circling his prey. He was so close that I could have heard his heartbeat, but he lacked one. Check that off the list – no heartbeat. As he finished inspecting me, slowly, he stopped in front and glared into my eyes.
I dared to stare into those eyes again, noticing dark shadows under them, which were not there from our first meeting. However, just like last time, lightning flashed within. I concentrated on those flashes, not letting myself drown within them. That's when I saw it. Zane wasn't just a vampire. Something else caged him. Those flashes were the enragement of an animal. Something powerful. I could only imagine it. A massive, powerful
beast that ran through the woods without hindrance. I could almost smell the animal. That wilderness musk. The creature was undeniably trapped; trapped behind those eyes, within the skin of a vampire.
He blinked, and I pulled myself away. His face became one of bewilderment and then grimness. I smelled the rage and panic as it poured from his body. I smirked, knowing that I had caught him off guard as he allowed me to discover his secret.
“Two can play this game,” I whispered in a voice only he would hear.
He came close to me, his sneering face answering my challenge. I refused to allow myself to back down. He pulled his lips away from his teeth and growled low only so I could hear, letting his fangs show in an animalistic display. His teeth elongated and appeared more savage than vampire-like. I heard feet shuffling forward to stop the exchange between us.
“You have no idea what you are playing with, little girl,” he growled still low.
I raised my eyebrows not daring to let him intimidate me. “Are you going to teach me? Or are you just going to growl at me some more?” What balls I had suddenly grew. Only God knew where this strength came from.
He still did not back away from me and glared at me until I was impatient of this staring contest. I looked away with a sigh. I knew the animal in him was waiting for me to yield, so I allowed him to think I was backing down. A part of me was willing to see how far that contest would have gone, but I think in the end, he would have dominated me. My new instincts conveyed to me that in his culture, he was probably an Alpha and if I had continued, he might have seen me as some sort of challenge.
"I'll train you," he said loud and clear for Sera and Finn's benefit. "Perhaps we will start with manners," he whispered only to me. He backed away and conferenced with Sera and Finn, completely ignoring me. "I will train her, but not here. Anyone can just walk in here, and it would be difficult to explain what they see. And it would be too time-consuming for me to wipe their memories. Especially if it's on a regular basis."
Wipe memories? Could he really do that?
“Then where do you suggest?” Sera demanded haughtily.
“I suggest the Underhill.”
Sera’s face paled. “I’m not taking her there!”
“The house is warded. And by those wards, no harm can be done there. It’s perfect.”
Wards? I would need a supernatural dictionary soon.
Sera still looked unconvinced.
“You don’t trust me,” Zane continued. “I don’t trust you guys. If anything happened there, the punishment would be instant death for the perpetrator.”
Sera chewed her inner cheek in apprehension. “Fine, but she will not be alone with you while there.”
“That’s fine. Maybe you’ll get something out of this too.” He grabbed his jacket and put it back on, along with a pair of shades that covered any visibility of his eyes. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I put my jacket on too, and we followed him out of the gym through the lockers to the outside, following the trail that would eventually lead to the bike path toward our house. The October Ohio air chilled me for a second, but as we walked my body was able to ignore it. Zane was leading, Finn was the back up with Sera and me following in between.
I watched Zane, curious as to what was accurate about vampires and what wasn't. Apparently, the day did not disintegrate him into nothingness. It was evident in the gym that daytime paled him; almost to the point of chalkiness. And being in the sun didn’t do him any favors. From the skin that was visible, which was mostly his face now, his veins were quite apparent and looked almost black. And who knew what his eyes looked like behind the glasses being outside in the sun.
I would have to eventually ask him about their strengths and weaknesses. He would obviously know more than Sera. And there would be time for that later. I fell in line with Sera as we followed a path that was close to our own house.
“What’s the Underhill?” I asked her.
“You haven’t educated her on anything, Guardian,” Zane scolded and then turned around with his shades still wrapped around his face, walking backwards. There wasn’t much of an expression to determine, except by the stiffness in his jaw.
Sera narrowed her eyes at him. “I was not her Guardian. She has never had a Guardian. We weren’t even Praesides. We were just supposed to keep her secret and safe.”
“Well, she’s no longer secret, and she is most definitely not safe. So you better learn how to be a Guardian and fast.”
Sera scowled at him as he turned back around.
“Okay, so what’s a Guardian in the Supernatural community? Also, you haven’t answered my question about Underhill,” I interrogated.
“A Guardian is a mentor for a Venatrix. Someone with experience of the Mundus Noctis and their role in it. This person educates them, but is also in charge of them and their welfare," Zane explained.
"So, they are like twenty-four-seven teachers and a parent?"
“Yeah, except they don’t have to care,” Zane grumbled.
“What about the parents? Shouldn’t they be the ones that do that?” I questioned.
There was a lot of clearing of throats and awkward sounds before Sera spoke, softly.
“When Venatrices are born, they are taken away from their parents.”
My heart skipped a beat. It seemed that certain factors were the same whether I knew about my role in the Mundus Noctis or not. “So they don’t know who their parents are?”
"Oh, they know," Finn snarled. "They are given the names of their parents, so they know their lineage and their history, but there is no attachment to them. The compound raises them. They know nothing about the bonds of family and love."
Zane snickered. “Funny hearing someone like you talk about love.”
The air around us became crisper and still, and Finn clenched every part of his body with every movement he made. Especially his hands, making the white stand out against his knuckles.
I pulled my jacket tighter around my body and cleared my throat this time.
“And Underhill?” I asked, trying my best to steer the conversation back.
“There are areas where the Earthly realm and Fae dimensions mesh. Underhill is one of those areas. Part of the Earthly realm, but mixed with Fae magic,” Zane clarified.
“Fae?”
Zane looked disdainfully behind him and just shook his head. “The Fae are one of the ancients. The Mundus Noctis actually call them aliens. They do not belong to Earth, and their civilization is much older than Earth’s. They can cross over through dimensional riffs like an Underhill. Most likely a ley-line, which gets the druids all antsy. But they are very similar to druids.”
"Just don't compare druids to the Fae. They really don't like that," Finn interrupted a sour look on his face.
Zane continued, “like the druids who use the power of the Earth and nature for their use, Fae use their own realm magic, but can bring it over here. It’s one of the reasons druids get a little annoyed with them. It doesn't work the other way around, and in fact, no one can enter a Fae realm without a Fae’s permission. The Fae are mighty, and they don't align themselves with Good or Evil because that’s not how their system is set up on their realm.”
“So they are neutral,” I responded feeling more at ease.
"To a point. Most of the time, the Fae just want to be left alone. But, if you make it your business to interfere or investigate the Fae, they will wipe you out," Sera said returning the anxiety.
“So aren’t we interfering by going to this ‘Underhill’?” I squeaked.
“No. The house has been offered to us,” Zane responded without looking back. “You have nothing to fear.”
We continued to walk in silence, following familiar paths. I kept watching Zane walk, trying to dissect his supernaturalism some more. In the day, he walked like a human, but almost heavier like gravity was pulling him to the ground. His muscles matched his supernatural size and strength as we walked. Each one flexing in a particular wa
y. Something about imagining him flexing made me flush again. He turned his head slightly and sniffed the air. Then he shook his head.
As if I could help it. I found myself annoyed by Zane's response. If I could hate him, I would, but for some reason, my body was attracted to him. Apparently, not my head. It was just a carnal attraction I kept telling myself. Eventually, the feeling faded.
Interestingly enough, the house that was on an “Underhill” was the mini-mansion a few blocks over from ours. I could not believe that there were Fae so near us. Of course, until a few days ago, I did not even believe there was anything like the supernatural that truly existed.
We had stopped in front of the gated manor. Again, it was much too small to be a mansion, but much too big to be a house. It had caught my attention once before. I remembered walking home with Nate my first day of Erie, and I stopped in front of it. I was amazed at how it seemed to defy spatial reasoning.
You guys never saw a house before?
I remembered that voice now, and I now knew why Zane looked so familiar. I had seen him here last year.
“I remember you,” I said, looking with annoyance at Zane. “You were that jackass from last year that made some rude ass comment to me when I was walking home.”
Sera glowered at my use of profanity, and I had the common sense to look sheepish.
Zane didn’t bother to look at me at all and shrugged a shoulder. “I make a lot of rude ass comments to people. You wouldn’t be the first.”
Part of me felt slightly hurt that he didn't remember me from last year. I couldn't say why, only that it did bother me. I rolled my shoulders, rolling away from the negative feelings, and looked back at the house. It hadn't changed visually from last year. It still looked like three houses put together in a space that defied logic. I did notice a security pad next to the gate that fenced in the house.
And if I didn’t understand how powerful the Fae were before, all I had to do was stand in front of this brick building, and I could feel it then. It licked my skin and squeezed my limbs. My hands trembled from the power and energy. I inhaled and sneezed. The power tingled my nose. I had felt it before, from Finn in our first encounter when he helped me up. Since then, he had refused to touch me. This power was indeed similar to Finn’s. I was now sure that Finn was Fae. But more than that, I was pretty sure that the house was connected to him.
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