Turned: The Inari Council

by Katherine Rhodes

  Sara hadn’t disagreed with his assessment.

  In Inari, the sun set early, and it got cold fast once it did. He had taken her to one of the guest rooms the castle had been redesigned to accommodate. A 1500-year-old castle, Pietra had needed some major overhauls when they moved in sixteen years before; a lot of witches used the castle as a place of respite between lives and one got very used to using indoor plumbing. Princess Alia, Michael’s mother, had also ordered and overhaul of the electrical system and the whole building was now wired for high-speed internet and cable.

  Sara hadn’t expected any of that. She was shocked when Michael pulled up a state of the art computer interface in the room. It was essentially a huge tablet on the wall, that had a keyboard, mouse, and remote near the bed. She hadn’t expected the well stocked kitchen a few dozen yards away, and she didn’t expect to actually be violently ill when she tried to eat one of the delicious looking apples that was in the fruit basket.

  “You’re not human anymore,” he said, sympathetically. “You can’t eat fruits and vegetables or anything of that ilk. I have seen a vampire or two eat some pretty raw steak and do alright, but anything other that or wine, and…” He gestured to the floor.

  “I’ll clean it up,” she said.

  “No need.” He pointed to her mess, and it was gone. She was quietly impressed, and slightly freaked out. She hadn’t realized there was a whole world of magic like this surrounding her. Michael had pulled up the file they had on Ian. She was expecting him to lug in a musty, dusty old file folder but instead showed her a file interface that belonged in a James Bond movie, and she laughed.

  He’d left her alone to read, shower and sleep; making sure the window coverings were pulled tight so that not a lick of light would get in. She missed the sun already. He left her and she had to admit the shower had felt ridiculously good. She had shed the rags she was wearing without a thought—they were the ones she had ‘died’ in and they smelled it. She was still enormously tired, and she barely remembered climbing into the bed.

  She did remember dreaming about Michael.

  Reading about her now-dead boyfriend, Sara realized Ian had been nothing of the man she though he was. He faked her out. He was seventy-five years old, and he had had a string of unwilling donors since he became a vampire, Turned?, in 1971. He had Turned none of them, and… She looked at the pictures of his last few unwilling donors. They were all stamped ‘deceased.'

  She would have been one of them.

  The knock had woken her, and she quickly threw on some clothes found on the chair. She smiled; at least the people who had wanted to kill her were polite enough to make sure she was dressed for the occasion.

  Sara walked out of her room to find him waiting across the hall, scrolling through his smartphone. She wanted to be bitter with him again for Ian, but the pictures of the ‘deceased’ haunted her and instead, her brain lent her only one fact. “I can still see myself in the mirror.”

  Michael laughed, stuffing the phone in his coat. “Of course you can. Only the truly damned can’t see themselves anymore. You’re just accidently a vampire. There have been wolves and witches who have lost their reflection because of the blackness of their souls.”

  “So, I’m going to show up mirrors?” Michael nodded. “Well, at least I can still do my hair, then.” She paused. “Um… I can do my hair, right? It’s not going to go all Claudia on me?”

  “All who?”

  “Claudia, in Interview with a Vampire? She hacks her hair off, and it all grows back instantly.”

  “Um… I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never really had to cut a vampire’s hair.” He held out a coat and gloves and hat. “Since we’re in Finland and it’s dark out, we’re going to need these. It gets really cold out there, really fast. While I don’t think we’ll be out for very long, why take a chance.”

  “Are we really in Finland?” She slipped on her coat.

  “Yes.”

  “How did we get here?”

  “We shifted,” he said, and then realized that she wouldn’t understand. “We apparated, like in Harry Potter. Poof! One instant one place, next instant a different one. All witches can do, some with great aplomb, like my mother, and others are a little shaky on it. It’s how we get the criminals here safely, without too many questions. The mess that we had to go to build the school was enough.”

  “School?”

  “Arwinelle and Isaandar University. You’ll see later. You’re still weak, and we need to get you some food.”

  “How am I ever going to take anything down if I’m as weak as you say. I feel really, really good right now. The shower, the nap and the… um…” Sara blushed, and cleared her throat. “It seemed to really invigorate me.”

  “You need more blood,” he said. “I could only bring you back from the brink.”

  “So you’ve studied vampires, then?”

  “My family was cursed by one. My aunt and I have spent years studying them… you… so that we could find a way to break the curse and make sure no other were hurt. I think it’s why mother agreed to my plan so quickly.”

  “Because you’re trying to find a way to destroy me?” She was getting used to the idea of someone wanting to kill her a little too easily.

  “Because I’m trying to find a way to co-exist peacefully. I don’t really want to drive stakes through hearts and cut heads off with silver swords. We have seen vampires in the night that we have left to their own because they were not drinking from other humans. Why can’t we live peacefully? The witches and the wolves have gotten over their tiff.” He paused. “For the most part.”

  “I’m probably a bad idea, Michael,” she said. “I’m nineteen. I shouldn’t have even been drinking that wine.”

  He waved his hand. “My family doesn’t rush to judgment over a nineteen-year-old drinking.”

  “But your mother rushed to judgment over a nineteen-year-old vampire.”

  He sighed and nodded. “I am sorry for her words. She can be cold. You have to understand that her hate runs deep. The vampire she always thinks of killed my grandmother, destroyed my uncle, and had his son murder and Turn my sister.”

  “Your sister is a vampire?”

  “My sister went into the sun.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sara said, quietly after a moment. “I really don’t want to believe that any of this is true, Michael. I’m just a reformed drug addict who had to clean up to take care of her brother. Keelan!” She gasped her brother’s name.

  His smile was genuine. “My sister has him. He’s safe at her house, and he’s welcome there for as long as it takes you to get back on your feet. He was a little surprised someone had told him you were dead, and then Sandy came along and told him you were alive.” He laughed. “Apparently, he ran right to her and called her Aunt Sandy so he could get out of the foster home.”

  A huge grin spread on her face. “That’s him, alright. He’s a devious little thing.” She touched his arm. “Thank you, Michael. Honestly. He would be left alone out there. He’s all I have, and I’m all he has.”

  He nodded as they reached a massive wooden door. “It’s cold, so be ready. The sky hasn’t lost all its light yet, so we’ll have a little time to adjust to the dark.”

  “Wait.” She placed a hand on his arm. “I… I can’t hunt. The only thing I’ve ever hunted was a bargain at Macy’s. You tell me I’m not strong enough yet. What’s going to happen?”

  “I will hunt for you this time. A deer, an elk. It will have enough blood that we can start tomorrow night with your lessons on small game.”

  “You’ll… hunt for me?”

  “Yes. I’ve been Hunting since I was sixteen.”

  “But, you said you were a werewolf…”

  “Well, Witchwolf. Half witch, half werewolf,” he said, pushing the door open to the cold outside. “My father is a leader of the Council of Arma, and he and my uncle keep a pact with the Hunters to bring down the Renegades, Bent Souls, and vampires.”
>
  Sara raised an eyebrow. That had been a lot of information and word soup to her. “What?”

  “The different kinds of outlaws. Renegades are werewolves who take down humans for sport. Bent Souls are… well, my sister Nancy said it best. Witches turned bitches. They become completely consumed by the power they have and go mad or become greedy. And then go mad. The Hunters used to come after all the werewolves until my father and uncle brokered peace with them to help take down those who really did need to be taken down. My brothers and sisters and I have all been on Run Hunts with them, our first when we are sixteen before our Blue Moon Ceremony.”

  “I… there’s so much to learn.” She put a hand to her head.

  “You’ll pick it all up,” he said. “For now, let’s find the woods, and I’ll bring you dinner.”

  “Breakfast,” she said, sadly.

  They trudged out through the light snow that had fallen on top of the rain that had poured down early in the morning. He walked ahead of her, along the edge of the woods for nearly a mile. The castle behind them was shadowed against the end of sunset, and Michael slowed a little waiting for full dark.

  “How are we going to find our way back?” Sara asked.

  “I can see in the dark,” he said. “You'll be able to as well.”

  “See in the dark?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he said. “You're going to be living at night, so it's imperative that you can.” He looked at the sky and nodded. “I'm going to do some tracking. Just watch what I'm doing and follow quietly.”

  “I'm about as graceful as a water buffalo,” she said.

  “Believe it or not, they are extremely graceful.” He smiled at her.

  She rolled her eyes, but his smile had been sweet. Michael turned back to the edge of the forest and moved forward scanning the ground. The sound of his footfalls completely disappeared. If Sara hadn't been staring at his back and using his footprints, she would never have known he was there. They continued for another hundred yards or so when he stopped and motioned her forward.

  On an outward breath, he said, “Moose.” He pointed to a print in the snow. She heard him scenting the air around them. Pointing to the trees, he held up 5 fingers. She assumed that meant there were five of them in there. He started to walk to the trees, again making no sound. She used his footprints again to follow into the trees.

  It was full dark by then, but Sara found herself shocked at how clearly she could see. She saw even the smallest stirring of the snow or saplings ahead of them. She could smell the animals they were tracking. Worse, she could smell Michael, hot and fresh just ahead of her. Desperately, she tried to block his hot male scent from her mind.

  The animals were nearly a quarter mile ahead of them in the naked, nearly winter forest. He motioned her to follow slowly and took them closer to the huge beasts. Barely above the whisper of the slight wind, he breathed out his words. “Stay here. Watch what I do.” He pointed to a tree trunk nearby.

  Trying not to make a sound, she moved over and leaned against the tree. He smiled and nodded at her. He shocked her completely then. As he turned back to the animals ahead of them, she saw the wolf take over completely, and his eyes sparked yellow. She almost let out a gasp.

  His walk took on a predatory lean, and he moved forward quickly without sound. She watched him as he sniffed the air and felt the wind. He was keeping himself downwind from the massive moose and moved in a way that could only be called slinking.

  In a flash, he moved. He took off a breakneck speed that she could barely track with her eyes. His silence was gone, and he crashed through the trees and the underbrush, crunching on the icy ground. But he was so close to them that by the time the moose started to move, it was too late. Michael had selected one of the creatures standing slightly behind and away from the others. In a few fasts bounds to catch up with the slowly accelerating animal, he slammed into it at high-speed and took it down.

  He was going so fast, he bounded over the animal, slowed and skidded back to it. The animal was panicked and trying to stand, but Michael landed on it's neck, and she saw a flash of claws at the back of it's head.

  “Hurry.” He called through the woods.

  Sara hesitated for just an instant. He was something she didn't recognize as human in that second and was terrified of him. He motioned her again, and she finally moved. She wasn't even trying to be quiet at that point. She just crashed through the underbrush and slid into the dirt and snow near him.

  “Hurry” This time, he growled the words.

  She looked at the massive creature, then back at him. “I don't...”

  He growled again, and a claw flashed. There was a line of blood at the base of the neck, and she felt her fangs drop again. It made her want to cry.

  “Drink, hurry,” he said again. “It's in pain.”

  “What?” she asked.

  He grabbed her hand and put it on the neck of the creature. The pain it was overwhelmed her senses, and she yanked away and sobbed.

  “Drink,” he said, pointing to the cut he had made. “Quickly.”

  She leaned down, crying, completely unconvinced that she could do this. But when the scent of hot blood assailed her senses, a strange feeling of need overpowered her and she drove her fangs into the thick vein and drew the blood into her mouth.

  It was not as rich or as sweet as Michael's, but it was earthy and thick and the more she drew in, the stronger she felt. She pulled and pulled on the animal, its pain starting to diminish. She realized that Michael had the animal's head in his lap now and he was whispering something quietly to it. She kept her attention on the blood but listened to what he was saying.

  “Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn, all that dies shall be re-born. Vine and grain, vine and grain. We all come from the Lady and Lord and to them we shall return. Like a drop of water flowing to the ocean flowing to the endless sea. We thank thee Great Goddess for the bounty before us. A gift of thy great abundance. Thank you for sustaining life. We receive your gift of food in gratitude.”

  She pulled away as the pain of the animal disappeared, and she heard the heart slowing to stop. She swallowed hard and ran her tongue over her teeth to get the last of the blood off them, feeling the fangs hanging there. She touched them with her tongue and grimaced, and a moment later they retracted themselves.

  “Please. Don't ever hesitate again. There was so much pain...” His voice was exhausted.

  She shook her head. “I won't. It was too much too much pain. It’s overwhelming.”

  “I know, but it’s necessary. Remember that. This is who you are now.”

  “What were you saying?”

  “A prayer of thanks,” he said. “Anything you send out shall be returned thrice. Give thanks to that which surrenders and allows you to continue. So whylom wont, so mote it be.”

  “That's very Wiccan of you,” she said.

  “They have it right. It just works slower than our magic.”

  She touched the now stilled moose. “What do we do with this?”

  “It comes back to the castle,” he said. “It will be butchered and served. We try not to waste anything.” She wanted to be grossed out, but she had just had... moose blood... for dinner. Breakfast.

  ~*~*~

  She learned to hunt quickly.

  “That’s good,” Michael said, quickly and quietly putting the giant moose out of its misery.

  “It’s wasteful.” She was starting to really enjoy the taste of blood.

  “It is,” he said. “But I wanted to make a point. Don’t take down more than you can eat. Back in the US, I’m guessing you don’t want to live too far from civilization. Which means you’ll very quickly deplete the rabbits and squirrels, even the groundhogs. But if you took down a deer once a week, you don’t have to feed at all in between, or maybe a squirrel or rabbit.”

  He also showed her how to use a knife to make butchering cuts. She could field dress the animal and donate it to a soup kitchen.

  All o
f his lessons made sense. She didn’t want to live in Montana. She was more of a city-ish kind of girl, and she’d have more options for Keelan and work if she was closer to an actual city. And with that in mind, Michael helped her set up outside of Albany, New York. The forest up there grew very thick, and the population got very thin as well. It would be perfect for her to go hunting once a week or so. He also managed to find her an overnight shift for a help desk that worked at home and would give her more than enough money to care for both her and Keelan. She knew he had pulled strings when she saw the welcome packet on the table of the apartment: LMCD.

  His father’s company.

  “Keelan is going to be on a flight tomorrow night, from Chicago. Are you ready to give this all a try?” Michael grinned at her. “You’re as ready for hunting and living at night as I’m going to be able to get you. The rest of this is up to you.”

  “Tomorrow night?” Sara was shocked. “How are we going to get there in time? We don’t have a plane, and we have to drive to—”

  He shook his head. “I’m witch, remember? We’re not flying anywhere. You think I fly home every other weekend for dinner?” He held out a hand. “I know that vampires can translocate, but I don’t how they do it. I wish I could teach you. But I can shift us there, and you can—and probably should—cab it to the airport.”

  Sara grabbed his hand and smiled. She shoved down the rise of hot desire that coursed through her when they touched. It was a shame she felt so attracted to him and couldn’t act on it. She also wasn’t sure if it was him or his delicious blood that ramped up her desire, either.

  They were suddenly in the middle of a neat living room, the furniture new and clean and the windows drawn tight.

  “It’s just about sunset here. I figured getting here now will get you on the right schedule.” Michael handed her a smaller envelop. “Cab money, and enough to pay one month food, rent, and bills. You’ll be good after that.”