by Bob Dattolo
I was sort of right, if anything, she’s even more imposing up close. She has to be at least 6’ 8”. As I stopped at her desk, she nodded at Thorne. “You may leave for now. Wait in the outer office, please?”
“Thank you, I will.” He looked back at me. “You’ll be in good hands here. I’ll be just outside if you need me for anything.” He left without a backward glance or waiting for a response. I’m not sure if I should feel scared that he’s gone or safe that he’s treating this like it’s not a big deal. I sort of feel both, at least to a degree.
She reached over the desk, extending a hand to me. “As I said, it’s good to meet you, Ceri.” Shaking her hand was like shaking velvet covered steel. Cold velvet covered steel.
“Oh my!” I couldn’t jerk my hand back, mainly because I thought she’d tear it off somehow, but the cold was shocking.
She released my hand and nodded at the chair. “I take it you weren’t prepared for my body temperature?”
I sat down, confused. “Uhh, no? How could I have been? You’re freezing.”
She sat down as well, laughing again. “Not freezing. Technically, I’m room temperature.”
“But…how can you be room temperature? Don’t we all have the same temperature?”
Her eyes twinkled. “You’re really as sheltered as the reports say, aren’t you?”
That made me look down, ashamed of how I was brought up. I didn’t look up again until she laughed once more.
“Please don’t be ashamed, Ceri. You asked a reasonable question based on what you were brought up to believe, so I can’t fault you for that. Most supernaturals won’t, when you are asking honest questions. I understand from everything that I’ve read that, even though you are a supernatural yourself, you were raised to believe you were a norm and that supernaturals are evil and will send your soul to hell. Is that correct?”
I nodded, unsure what else to say.
“I understand from Special Agent Thorne that he explained some of that to you, so I won’t belabor the point. I will say, though, that you’ve officially met your first vampire.”
Looking back at the door, I squinted, as if trying to see through it. “I don’t understand? Is Rasphael a vampire?”
“Oh my no. Why would you ask that?”
I turned back. “When I walked past her, she sort of talked to me? In my mind?”
I wasn’t expecting the look of shock I received from the director. “In your mind? Interesting. That’s rare. Very rare. I won’t ask you what you talked about. I will say that whatever she said to you can be taken as 100% fact. You can share what you talked about, but that’s up to you. Asking about it or attempting to force you would be…bad.”
“Bad? In what way?”
“Rasphael is a fey. The fey are known for their secrets, and they keep their information close to their chests. Crossing a fey is not recommended unless you’re exceedingly powerful. Even I wouldn’t cross Rasphael, and I’m more than 2,000 years old and considered very powerful.” She laughed again at my face. “Yes, I’m the vampire I mentioned.”
Okay…yeah. Not what I was expecting when I woke up today. I’m not sure why that would be, but it’s true. I wanted to crawl through my chair and hide from the evil in front of me, but she didn’t feel evil. She felt like a protector. Don’t get me wrong, it felt like she could kill me at the drop of a hat without even half trying, but that she wouldn’t. Sort of like standing next to a huge wall. Yeah, it could crush you if it fell, but it wouldn’t. Normally.
“You’re a vampire?” I didn’t mean for my voice to squeak.
“I am. That is why I’m so cold compared to what you expected. I can temporarily increase my temperature by soaking in a tub or staying in a hot room, but it doesn’t last long and is rarely worth the effort. Now that we’re out and about, I haven’t had to do that in decades. Not having to hide constantly makes things so much easier.”
Snorting, I tried to relax. “I bet it does.” I thought back through everything my parents taught us. “Uhh, I’m not trying to be offensive, but like you said, I don’t have a clue about anything. My parents taught us that demons are the strongest supernaturals, followed by vampires, then mages, with the fey being outside of that?”
She nodded. “It’s actually very hard to describe relative power levels, but I’ll try. When it comes to overall power, demons and angels are at the top of the heap. They don’t outstrip the rest of us by that much, but, pound for pound, they’re at the top. Although there seem to be very few angels out and about. After that, it’s a gamble. Physically strong? Magically strong? It all depends on what you try to do. Vampires are the fastest and we’re very, very strong. Some of us also know magic, although a normal vampire will not. Mages can range anywhere from being able to smell like fresh baked cookies on demand to being able to kill an entire regiment of soldiers with a wave of their hand. Shifters are physically powerful and heal almost as fast as a vampire and can also have magic. Fey tend to have more magic, heal as fast as a vampire, and have more knowledge than most humans. They’re considered outside of rankings, because they can be weak enough for a weak mage to take in a fight up to just a hair below a demon on the top end. Rasphael is on the higher end power-wise. I would beat her in a race, but my magic is nothing compared to hers. As much as she operates as my secretary, she actually co-runs this department with me and the hierarchy knows it. Oh, I’d also beat her in a baking competition.”
She started laughing unexpectedly. “Okay, fine, she told me to tell you that I’m lying. I am, too, although it is in jest. I haven’t been able to eat food in more than 20 centuries, so anything I knew about cooking was lost a long time ago. Not that I don’t try, but I can’t taste it myself to know if it’s any good, so it’s always a toss-up. Her, on the other hand? She’s amazing, from everything I’ve heard.”
“This is so surreal.” I said it quietly, but she still laughed.
“I’m sorry, I got off on a tangent. This also isn’t a great time to laugh, which I apologize for. The reality is that you’re here with us. Your parents are loose somewhere, and your siblings…your siblings are dead. I’m very sorry about that. Is there anything I can do for you?”
Is there? “No. Thank you, though. The sad reality is that we weren’t much of a family. My parents believed in setting us all up against each other, so we weren’t very close. We’d help each other, because we had to, but it was always each of us against the others. The two I was closest to disappeared on their 17th birthday last year and the year before and I figured they died somehow. Special Agent Thorne pretty much confirmed that for me. As did my parents’ comments about wanting to sacrifice and drain me.” I shrugged. “I’m not saying I’m indifferent to what happened, but there wasn’t a lot of love there, you know? I’m in shock, but not personally devastated. I sort of worked through that when I ran off to kill myself yesterday.”
She nodded and watched me for a bit. “If there’s anything you need from us, please let us know.” More silence. “I understand that you do not have any family or family friends that you can live with?”
“No. No one. As I told Special Agent Thorne, the friends my parents had over periodically were…not good. They always seemed evil to us. Just like my parents always told us supernaturals were supposed to be.”
“They seemed evil to you?”
“Yeah? I’m not sure I can explain it? Like they wanted to hurt you and it’s only some little thing stopping them? I mean, I can tell that you’re powerful and that Rasphael is powerful. Either of you could kill me without even straining, yet I get the feeling you wouldn’t. Not that you wouldn’t if you needed to. If I stole a gun and tried to shoot someone, both of you would do it without thinking about it. For them, it’s like they desperately wanted to do it and were looking for an excuse for it. And that they’d enjoy it.”
The door behind me opened and Rasphael poked her head in. “Director Fitzsimmons, I think I need to say that Ms. Driscoll would not be easy for eithe
r of us to kill. I know you read the reports on what was said? Once the barriers break entirely, neither of us would stand a chance. Possibly not even working together.” Then she closed the door behind her and left us alone.
“Oh…my.” Director Fitzsimmons stared at me in shock.
That made me shrug. “That’s sort of what she alluded to? I don’t know what it means. The vampire that bit me said something about breaking the barriers, but it’s a mystery. I don’t know why I’m alive right now or why I look like this. I didn’t have freaky skin or black eyes yesterday morning.”
She cleared her throat twice before being able to speak. “I’ll be honest right now, Ceri, Rasphael has never told me something like that before, and we’ve known each other for more than 500 years. I’m not even sure what to do with that.” She listened to something I couldn’t hear. “All right, I have it on good authority I’m not supposed to do anything with it.” I’m guessing super hearing is at work again.
More throat clearing. “All right. I’ll ignore all of that for now.” She took a deep breath, which made me wonder if it’s a fiction for her. “You’re in a bad position at the moment. You’re a minor with no relatives and no parents. Normally, we would send you into the foster system, but supernatural foster children don’t work well in the normal system. The simple fact of the matter is that norms can’t handle supernatural children. Many don’t even want to try. Supernaturals as foster parents are an option, but that can be iffy. Too many foster parents will try to gain something from you. Since we don’t know what you are, although you must be mostly mage, we’re not sure what will happen if we place you with foster parents. Or what they might do to you.”
“So…what? I have to live on my own?”
She pulled something from her desk drawer. “No. Foster parents are an option, but I’d like to hold that aside for now until we have a better idea of what is happening to you. We do have one approach, though, that I’d like to run by you.” She fell silent long enough that I started to ask her a question before she spoke again. “How far have you made it through school?”
“I, uhh, sorry,” I thought back to my classes, “I started Junior year three months ago?”
She squinted a little but didn’t question me on it. “It seems you were home schooled, since we can’t find record of you enrolled anywhere.”
“Right. My parents wouldn’t let us leave the compound or talk to anyone from outside that they didn’t allow in.”
“All right. We have a possible option that might work.” She handed me a pamphlet and it had a nice-looking building on the front. “There is a boarding school that the US Government provides funds to but does not run. Lledrith Academy is a school for supernaturals. It is arguably a high school, although it does host students older than the typical high school age depending on need. Most of the students there come from powerful and wealthy families, although there are a few that get in through scholarships. It’s a live-in school, with students staying 10 months out of the year, although some stay on year-round. Given your age, if you attended, you would stay year-round unless you had somewhere to stay and an adult supervisor.”
Fingering the pamphlet didn’t tell me much. “So…what, this is like Hogwarts or something like that?” Oddly enough, even though my parents forbade the books or movies, I learned enough through newspaper articles to piece things together.
She smiled again. “No. Not like Hogwarts. No magical sports, for one. On the other hand, it is a school for top-notch learning that also teaches you about other supernaturals and helps you gain control and possibly mastery over your powers. So, I guess sort of like Hogwarts then, just not the same.”
“So…what, they teach spells to magic users? Or how to drink blood to vampires?” I didn’t mean to sound sarcastic, but I probably did.
“Somewhat and no.” Another smile. “Most children of supernaturals are taught at home or within the family units. Magic using families typically want to keep their children under wraps so that other families don’t know how weak or powerful their children might be. Vampires have no need to learn how to drink blood, nor are we born, so that part is out. What does happen, though, is that supernaturals get busy with their lives and want to farm out some of the teaching that goes along with raising their children. Especially the rich and powerful. So mages that have a busy business life may send their children. Or situations where they have a norm spouse but they’re the bread winner may result in them being sent to the school. It varies considerably depending on the family and what type of supernatural they are. For instance, we’ve never had a fey attend. Or a demon. Not that they couldn’t, but they have no need. We have had some vampires attend that have magical abilities, but that’s also rare. That being said, I believe there is at least one in attendance right now.”
“So I’d go to school, but not have a family?”
Her face softened. “That’s true. If you go to this school, you won’t really have a family. There are caretakers there, obviously, but no foster parents. That, right there, is the major downside to this option. The fact of the matter is that, even checking nationwide for proper foster parents, we don’t seem to have any that would fit you where we can guarantee you would be safe. Since we don’t know what is changing about you or what is going to happen when you turn 17, we’re not sure where to fit you in. I’ll be honest; while you were in the hospital, we had you studied by a number of magic users. None of them could tell what was going on inside of you. Or why your appearance changed. Some have theories, but they’re many and varied. Even sitting across from you right now should give me some idea of what you are, but your scent is muddied. You smell like human, mage, shifter, vampire, demon, troll, and even a little fey. None of that tells us much or lets us know what would be a good fit for you. We do not have any foster trolls or demons or even fey. I’ve never even heard of any being available. It would seem like a mage foster family would work…but that might be a problem.”
“A problem? In what way?”
Her lips pressed together as she took another breath. “What we know about your injuries prior to them healing is…disturbing. Highly disturbing. I won’t go into details, but what we believe happened shouldn’t be possible. And by that, I mean it shouldn’t be possible because the mage families wiped out every other mage that could possibly do what seems to have been done.”
“What was done?”
Her eyes closed as if she’d said too much. “I’m sorry, I can’t say. The more that possibly know, the more at risk you may be. That’s why we can’t put you with a mage family, because if they find out and our fears are correct, they may try to kill you.”
“Oookay. You know that’s kinda terrifying, right? What’s to stop anyone in this school from figuring it out and trying to kill me?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Our hope, though, is that none of the students will be able to put the pieces together in such a way that they possibly figure it out.”
“And the teachers?”
“We don’t know. Short of sticking you in a cell somewhere, this seems like the only option for us where you can get a semblance of a normal life.”
No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong with me that people would want to kill me? Why did my parents want to kill me? Why would strangers want to do that?”
The door opened again and Rasphael appeared next to the director’s desk as if by magic. Since she’s fey, maybe it is?
Her voice pulled my eyes up against my will. “Ceri, your options are limited. Going and hiding away in a cell isn’t much of a choice, nor is it one that I think you can take and be honest with yourself. I’ve closely reviewed the options available to you for possible foster parents, and I do not believe they would be a good fit for you. The best option would be for me to take you myself, but my King has forbidden it.” The director twitched at that news but didn’t say anything. “I know this is a lot of pressure to put on you, but I b
elieve you can do it. You are on the cusp of becoming something magical and wonderful. Or, if you let the weight of the world crush you, something devastating and deadly. That is why others will try to kill you.”
“I don’t want to be devastating or deadly!”
Her smile lit up the room. “I know. We know. We attempted to have every precog in the bureau assist us with guidance on you, and none of them will touch it. Even I’m stymied, although at least I tried. I can see many things about you, but not everything. It’s so very clear to me that you do not want to hurt others that I’m willing to ignore the ruling from my king and take you home with me if you want.”
“What…what would happen if I did that? What would happen to you?”
She shrugged. “I would be hunted after a time, but not before you matured and could defend yourself. You can and will learn that at the school or with me, but with me you gain a mother-figure.”
My face fell. “No. Absolutely not. I’m not willing to let you be hurt by this.”
Her smile got even brighter. “And that’s how I know you’ll be a force for good. Your path will not be an easy one, but when is it ever? Even normal teenagers have their difficult years. Yours won’t even be as difficult as some. Just more…perilous.” She crouched down and touched my hand, sending a wave of electrical fire through my arm. “What is your decision on this? You can come with me or go to the school. Those are your only viable options at this time that don’t turn down a bad path quickly.”
We shared a long moment as I stared into her eyes, wanting to get lost in them.
“I’ll take the school.”
She released my hand and stood. “I believe that is a good decision, Ceri. One that you will come to cherish and enjoy once you accept who and what you really are. I won’t say more about it.” She slipped from the room without a backward glance, leaving me alone with the director.