The Sorcerer's Touch

by Imogene Nix

  Javed didn’t speak, but he was just as affected as Celina. The three girls reciprocated the embrace while the adult vampires watched in silence.

  “Celina? Javed? We need to talk.” Their heads jerked in Cressida’s direction.

  “Yeah. Later, okay?” Javed faced them, his face grim. “They’re home, safe and sound.”

  “My friends, there is so much more to this situation.” She indicated the children.

  Celina blinked rapidly and he caught the shimmer of a tear on her lashes.

  “What do you mean by that?” Javed’s tone was adversarial and Daniel felt sympathy for the vampire. He’d be shocked to learn the truth, but right now he just shrugged as Javed turned from one to another of their band.

  “Fine, inside then.” He spun, taking Celina’s arm, and the children skipped unconcernedly behind them.

  * * * *

  Creedar stretched, one of his female vampires huddled on the ground beside the bed he’d made. He’d fed deeply and sated his body again. Weariness assailed him, but so did great pleasure. Knowing his plans to dominate the vampire clans was moving forward at speed was energizing.

  He eyed the ceiling, festooned with dancing humans, extended olive branches and semi-naked women. Their bodies were softly rounded and he grunted, considering the form on the floor.

  “I want a woman. Another one like that.”

  The guard at his door stared in horror and fear. “L-like that?” The human gulped loudly and Creedar’s ire grew.

  “That’s what I said! Get me one like that or you…” He leered at the male guard, who paled.

  Puny human.

  If it weren’t for the need to be guarded throughout the day, he’d have dealt with the fool far more harshly. As it was, the sound of the blood pumping in his veins almost enticed him to feed and take pleasure from the male. I haven’t had a male in such a long time…

  “One like that?” The strained words broke through his thoughts.

  “Exactly. Find me women like that. Several.” With that he dismissed the man. He wanted blonde women, lithe and succulent. Women who reminded him of Cressida.

  He’d not long been in this city, realizing that to stay in the same place would increase the chances of his enemies finding him, yet he wearied of moving and hiding. He wasn’t prey. No, he was the ultimate predator, so this behavior felt intensely alien to him.

  A beep echoed and he jerked, angered at the sound. He grew tired of the incessant noises and pings that seemed to accompany technology. “Someone answer that.” His roar of anger was met by the rush of minions hurrying to do his bidding.

  The woman on the floor didn’t move. He slid off the bed and strode in her direction. His foot caught her under the stomach and with a swift move he rolled her over.

  Dispassionately he eyed the pool of blood congealing under her form. There was no sound of pumping blood and he frowned.

  Pity. She’d been interesting, with the struggles she put up initially. I could have spent much more time, searching her interesting mind and acquiring details of current human politics. With a flick of his hand, he dismissed her from his thoughts.

  “Sire, your friend wishes to consult with you. He says he has information that you would wish to hear.” The guard gulped again, his eyes settling on the dead flesh at Creedar’s feet. “Is she…?”

  “Remove the carcass and let me talk to my informant.” Grabbing the phone from the human’s hand, he stretched, working the kinks out of his body. “Your report?”

  “Creedar? They’ve been meeting with the witches and have been given some kind of tokens.”

  He stilled. Tokens? His mind whirred to life, searching memories for what the witches may have claimed.

  Long moments passed before he remembered the amulets that should have been his. The ones his mother had hidden from him. Were there five or six? Six was a magical number, and if that was so…

  “Tell me more.” He didn’t attempt to hide the harshness of his demand.

  “They aren’t saying a lot, but I know they have been working with them. These amulets, from what I understand, will likely enhance the powers they have.”

  Now Creedar reeled as he contemplated what might happen next. They had found the amulets. For a moment a shaft of fear pierced him and he had to sit down, breathe deeply and find his equilibrium.

  “It matters not. They are but a motley band and I will defeat them. Go find out more, though, about these amulets. Who found them and handed them over?”

  “They are important then, sire? Are they dangerous?” The vampire’s voice wavered and a boiling anger welled in Creedar’s chest.

  Creedar growled deep in his throat.

  “Anything that those witches may grant my enemies is dangerous! Now go find out more. Everything!”

  He threw the phone against the wall. It clattered to the ground, smashing into bits on the linoleum.

  He grunted in anger. Those witches will pay for their interference.

  How to defeat them, now that was the question he needed to answer. His army was not yet of sufficient size or capability to overthrow them, and he roared with displeasure.

  “Bring me food!”

  The guard moved quickly at his bellow, but Creedar didn’t watch the guard scurry away, too deeply lost was he in his thoughts and plans. Yes, they would pay. And soon…

  Chapter Eight

  The girls bounced on the seat in front of the vampires. Daniel took in the scene. It reminded him of his childhood, with the adults gathered around the children, who were eager to share the knowledge they’d gleaned from the day. Except this time, it wasn’t after school, he wasn’t one of the children and the information the girls were imparting was of great importance.

  “So how did you work out you weren’t human?” Cressida spoke gently, and Daniel glanced to Celina, who sat quiet and composed, though her face was paler than he’d ever seen it.

  Rachel shrugged, bit her lip and looked down at the carpet before glancing up. She gazed at her sisters before sighing heavily. “We were out in the garden when dusk started to roll in. We love that time of day. Anyway, we were talking about our lessons when Lucy said something about missing home.”

  Celina gasped and Javed slung his arm around her shoulders.

  “But it’s okay, because we talked about it, and all of us agreed that Celina and Javed love us. But when Lucy spoke, it made me think of my mother and my head started to ache.” Rachel spoke carefully, raising her hand to her forehead, and Marian nodded.

  “Rachel kind of reacted badly, saying it was probably a dream but it—I don’t know—it made me remember. I could see this big group of people and large animals. There were other children just like us. With skills and abilities. I remember my mother. A lot of them spoke to her as if she were a leader, and some called her empress. She has this long black hair and—”

  “You can tell us about your mother later, child. But right now we need to work out what you know. How you remembered…” Cressida’s voice soothed the fractious children, who wanted to complete the story in their own way.

  “Okay. But only if I get to tell you about her later?”

  Cressida nodded at Rachel and the child beamed at her.

  “I don’t remember how we came to be alone. There’s flashes of screaming and blood, but that’s all.” Marian shrugged deeply.

  A spurt of surprise filled Daniel as he watched them speaking. For the first time, they seemed much older than their years. He leaned in. “But you’re just kids.”

  Marian reached out, grasping his hands. “We are, in human form, but we’ve lived a long time. I remember now, reading a newspaper the day I first found the others. It was over ten years ago, Uncle Daniel. For some reason though, when we were in the slaughterhouse, our memories kind of faded away.”

  Daniel stood, needing some kind of movement to let him work off the pressure that filled his skull. Too much information, too many factors to absorb.

  “Be calm, Danie
l. The witches will scan the children to check the facts as they have recounted them.”

  The door swung wide and the three witches entered, their presence a powerful force that followed in their wake.

  “Where are the children?” a booming voice demanded, and Daniel turned in time to see Selena, her eyes flashing.

  Celina gasped and jerked forward, no doubt to shield the children, but Lucy laid a hand on her wrist. “It’s fine, Celina.”

  Rachel cleared her throat. “We’re here, Graces.” The children rose and curtseyed deeply before the older women.

  “Graces?” Celina frowned.

  “It’s what they are called in our species. We’re taught of them, but they are more myths… Or that’s what we’d been told.” Lucy spoke slowly, as if schooling a child.

  Jemima laid her hands on one child, then the other, her slow movements careful. She nodded to Selena, who followed her actions. As did Danicka.

  Once all three witches had scanned the children they sat down and sighed. “So, what we have here is…were. Not human. Not really animal but something in between. Some would call them changers but not us.”

  Danicka extended her hand. “They change shape, wield magic and age slowly. But I don’t remember a pack disappearing for a long time.”

  Selena shook her head. “They’re more than that. To be a changer means they have no choice in changing shape, although weres do. For weres, it happens when they are ready and they can choose to assume another form. Or at least after they finish puberty, which these three clearly haven’t. Until then, they seem just like children…”

  “Unless something traumatic happens to push their skills into action.” Jemima nodded sagely.

  “Then what the children say is right?” Javed grunted before gripping Celina’s shoulder.

  “Oh yes. I did see a change in the relationship between humans and vampires. I knew that at some time there’d be others, but it was all a long time ago, and I’d forgotten that dream.” Jemima touched a hand to her brow.

  “Well then, now that’s settled, we should sit down and talk.” Hope spoke quietly but it was enough to bring the various parties to an amicable agreement.

  * * * *

  Cressida sat on the bed, waiting for Daniel to complete his ablutions. In her head, she sifted through the emotions that had stormed throughout the night just past. She’d felt pain, anguish, hate and, for a short while, even grief.

  The grief was something she’d tried to contain for so long, and she’d almost given in to the crushing emotion.

  Celina and Javed cared for the three girls as if they were their own flesh and blood, and that made the children even more important, because she’d been around them, knew them and understood their connection to their adoptive parents. That made them her family too. No matter that she’d had a nest, she’d never come to see the nestlings as her family… But now, with Daniel, Javed, Celina, Xavier and Hope, not to mention the children, that was exactly what she had.

  She’d once had just that—a family—flawed though it had been. Through no fault of her own, she’d lost it. She’d never conceived that she might have a second chance.

  Daniel entered the room while she was lost in her thoughts. She didn’t even register his presence.

  “Cressida?” His voice was soft and understanding, tugging at her mind.

  “What? Oh, I apologize.” She was flustered. She raised her hands, smoothing the blonde hair that she’d tied back in a severe braid.

  Daniel stalked to the bed, a frown on his face. She scanned the perfect symmetry of his features, no longer obscured by the wire-rimmed glasses he’d worn before the change. Wondered at the fact that he no longer needed them, pleased that the gleam of his eyes was now unobscured.

  “Cressida? Why are you so upset? It’s clear something is bothering you. Tell me. Let me help you.”

  She bit her lip. “How?”

  When he pulled back, she gave a deep sigh. It wasn’t easy to explain, but for him, she would.

  “It’s the children, isn’t it?”

  His words startled her. It was that, partly. But there was so much more to her feelings than longing and wistfulness.

  “I… Yes and no.”

  He barked a laugh. “Cressida, you’re such a terrible liar.”

  She whirled around to face him, ready to denounce his words, but she couldn’t discern any anger. All she could see was the softness that he only shared with the children, Celina and Hope…and herself.

  “You know how I was turned?” She spoke slowly, the anguish welling up, as it always did when her thoughts turned to that time. She wanted to stop, to put some distance between them so she wouldn’t remember. “You saw parts of it. It’s all tied up in that. History. Ancient history, really.”

  “No, it isn’t. You wear those memories around your neck like a millstone. You need to talk about them. It’s hurting you deeply, like a festering poison. It’s time to let it all go.”

  The glance she gave him must have spoken a million words, because he shook his head. “You can’t fix what’s already been. You just have to make the best of it. Learn to live with the reality in which you find yourself.”

  She breathed deeply, while a million butterflies took wing in her stomach. “I wish it were that simple, but I’ve lived with these for a long time. Longer than most humans live. In all that time, I’ve never found a way, or something to ease the pain. At least, until now.”

  “All the more reason.” He raised a hand to cup her cheek, thumb tracing the soft skin, and she nuzzled it.

  “Tell me, Cressida. Then you can let yourself grieve.”

  It was the tenderness in his voice that captured her, shook the pain free from the depths where she’d hidden it long ago. Where it had sunk root. “It was a long time ago, Daniel. Hundreds of years. I’d not been married very long. Etienne was a good husband.” She shuddered as the memories battled through the chink she’d opened in her psyche.

  Daniel encouraged her to lie back and she did, the scent of him on the pillow soothing her ragged emotions, as if he were wrapping her in his arms.

  “How did you meet?”

  She laughed softly. “His father was a farmer but Etienne, he never wanted a life of labor. He was a lay priest and had come to our village to serve, and of course he was good-looking…” She smiled, remembering the way the girls of the village had gathered to whisper about the newest addition.

  “We met one day as I was fetching water from the well. Mama wanted to scrub the floors, as she was a midwife, and forward thinking.”

  “Really? Were things so different then?”

  Cressida rolled to her side to look into his eyes. “Oh yes. Most of the houses were still strewn with straw and lice were an everyday occurrence. Babies died, as did their mothers, from botched deliveries. Legends held more sway, so mothers would pack themselves after birth with pig fat, or would refuse help because the pain of labor was considered God’s retribution for Eve and the apple. So many things have changed.” Her voice died away as she considered what had taken place. “Of course almost everyone lived in hovels, with holes in roofs where the thatch had failed and no glass for windows. That was for the wealthy. If you were lucky, like us, you had shutters to keep out the rain and wind. Etienne was determined and found a house on the edge of town while all the girls vied for his attention. The day I was carrying the pails, he offered his help, and on the way back home he told me of his sister and her death. She hadn’t survived the childbed. It was so common back then, but she’d only been fifteen.”

  “So young.” Daniel frowned.

  “It was the way of it. I was only fifteen when we met, but there was something about him. He was handsome…”

  When Daniel grimaced she chuckled and smoothed her hand over his cheek. “Not as handsome as you though.” But even with the words, his brow furrowed with disbelief.

  “So how did you…?”

  “Come to marry? We met many times during the summer
, and by the end he asked my father’s permission to court. By winter we were wed.”

  “But you were only fifteen?”

  “Hmm. The cold wind blew the doors open to the church the day we took our vows. I remember the crash. So loud…” She dimly remembered clutching the tiny bouquet of winter greenery, the round red berries adding a dash of color, and her best gown, carefully refurbished for the day. Her hair caught up at the back, washed and brushed with care. Etienne in his best coat and breeches, with long, dark hair tied back at the nape of his neck.

  The memory of the joy she’d felt standing there at the altar swept through her soul. He’d had his pick of the village maidens, yet he’d wanted to pledge himself only to her.

  In her mind she replayed the scene—all that had remained was the final blessing, and she had been warm, so warm standing there beside the man she loved while the wind howled outside. They had been about to kneel when the bang had caused her to jump. An insidious finger of chill had advanced through the tiny chapel, freezing her to the marrow.

  Afterward, the Matrons had denounced it as an evil omen. If only they’d known…

  “The child?” Daniel’s soft query pulled her back to the present.

  “The next winter I was pregnant, the babe twisting and turning, and I was so happy. Etienne was proud and so was I, to know I’d brought him such joy.” She stopped and shook her head. “But things started happening well before that. As the summer grew, he became distant. I can’t…it was as if he knew what was coming. You see, a stranger came to town and the maidens, they relinquished their favors to him in a way none of us had ever seen before.” The memory horrified her. She’d watched the repercussions each girl had faced. The floggings, those girls turned away from home and those who’d given birth out of wedlock. All of them had suffered the shunning of the townsfolk.

  “The girls didn’t seem to care that they were ruined though. More than one child was born from the loveless unions spawned in that house where evil lived, but the girls all went back and lived openly together. The elders whispered there was dark magic afoot. I know better now, but then, well, it was considered unnatural.” She shrugged, took a deep breath and glanced in Daniel’s direction.