by Oxford, Rain
“I can’t let you–” She was cut off as the door opened wider and a much younger and thinner Grayson Adams than I was used to smiled.
His brown hair was thick, his blue eyes were piercing, and his gray Armani suit fit the slim man perfectly. In his prime, Grayson looked more like a businessman than a wizard. The man’s smile sent a chill down Vincent’s spin. “Vincent! It’s been what, five years?”
“Ten, sir.”
“No ‘sirs’ here, Vincent. Come on in.” He ignored the young woman and stepped aside to let Vincent in. As he turned and started walking away, he finally addressed the woman. “Bring some tea into the main study.”
“I need to see Logan Hunt,” Vincent said.
Grayson smirked. “You haven’t met him have you?” Vincent shook his head. “Logan is almost always found in a library. We have three secret libraries and he found all of them his first day here.” They arrived at the library and the door opened by itself. The man sitting behind the desk was not what Vincent expected.
Logan Hunt didn’t look much different than the older version I knew. His silver eyes were slightly darker and friendlier, and I would guess he wasn’t even thirty. He looked up as Vincent entered and smiled warmly. There was obvious recognition in his eyes even as he stood and held his hand out for Vincent to shake.
“Nice to meet you, Vincent,” he said with a thick British accent.
Vincent hesitated before shaking Hunt’s hand. He had visions about half the time when he touched a person, so he was grateful that nothing happened. “How do you know my name? Have we met?”
“Not exactly. Sit.” He indicated one of two chairs in front of the fireplace. Vincent sat and Grayson tried to take the other seat, but Hunt intercepted him. “I thank you for showing him the way, but I know you have much work to finish. Do visit later; we can chat about the weather or football or whatever.”
Grayson was not used to being dismissed, but Hunt was difficult to argue with. Hunt locked the door behind the council member.
“Did you know my father?”
“I did indeed. Arthur Knight tried to kill me.” Vincent gaped, but Hunt smiled and sat across from Vincent. “How much do you know about the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?”
“Not much. My father tried telling me about it, but I wasn’t very interested.”
“You would have been had you listened. The Golden Dawn is long-since disbanded. However, there are many organizations and cults based off of its teachings. The wizard council is one such order. Because of this, the wizard council was originally designed to have a branch in the United States, England, and Germany. Arthur was given the task to find the most powerful wizards of England.”
“And he found you?”
“I was young and irresponsible. Instead of trying recruit me, he tried to kill me for my power.”
“What happened? My father has never been defeated in his life.” Arthur could see the future and control minds; there was no way he would lose to a juvenile wizard.
“A story for another day. Fortunately, Arthur had no hard feelings. Of course, the German and England branches never developed, due to his actions. I trust this is why you have come?”
“I don’t know why. My father died and his last words were to find you.”
He grinned. “He is still trying to recruit, then.”
“I’m not joining the wizard council.”
“The wizard council is nothing compared to what your father was after. Unfortunately for him, there was only one way to get the power he sought, and that was to kill me. He failed. Now, however, there is a second chance.”
“I’m not going to try to kill you.”
“I am glad of that, especially since it is no longer necessary. I opened a school for paranormal children a few years ago and it is doing very well. Recently, I learned of a castle that the council owns. I want to buy that castle from the council and open it as another school. This time, though, I seek what is hidden underneath it. If you help me get the castle, I will help you get what your father never could.”
“I’m not interested.”
“Your brother would be.”
“You know my brother?”
“I kept an eye on him, assuming he would follow in his father’s footsteps and try to kill me. Fortunately, it was you alone Arthur tried to tell, and you never listened. John will soon set his eyes on the council, and if they still have the castle, John will discover the secrets the castle hides.”
“What secrets?”
“I can show you.”
“Tell me.”
He shook his head. “The walls have ears, and what I know can start a war the world isn’t ready for. Have you ever killed a person?”
“No.”
“Then the only way to show you is to get into that castle, and the route has never been successfully made.” He stood. “To follow me into the dark will not end well for you. The journey will be dangerous, painful, and lonely. However, if you do not take it, your brother will, and the consequences will be catastrophic for everyone.”
He walked into the darkest corner of the room and it was as if the shadows enveloped him completely. Vincent instantly felt a cold sensation in his head as a vision forced itself onto him. He saw the wolf again, but it wasn’t attacking him. Instead, the wolf tore Grayson’s throat out.
He returned to reality at the same time he heard a woman scream. He shot out of the room and froze when he saw the state of the main sitting room. The wooden floors were clawed, the cushions of the chair by the fireplace were shredded, and the coffee table was in pieces. In fact, the door was destroyed from something very large breaking through it. He followed the damage into the adjacent hallway, where there were claw marks not only in the floor but also the walls.
Servants ran past him, trying to escape the danger he was walking calmly towards. After a few minutes, he reached another sitting room, where Grayson had been playing chess with a little boy. The wolf that advanced on Grayson completely ignored the child as it backed the wizard up against the fireplace.
In the span of a split second, Vincent experienced three visions. In one, he grabbed a decorative sword off of the wall and struck the wolf. That didn’t end well for him. In another, he struck the wolf with a burst of energy, but the power reflected off the beast and hit the child. His choice was made and he acted on the third option, which was to create an energy shield around Grayson.
The wolf seemed to detect it instinctively and turned on Vincent. My uncle froze with fear, as this creature was more than twice the size of any shifter he had ever met. When the wolf opened its mouth in a brilliant display of teeth and prepared to lunge at Vincent, my uncle acted automatically. He hit the beast in the face with a burst of electricity. At the same instant the current struck the wolf, black mist swirled around it. Much faster than even the energy, the wolf vanished and the darkness faded with it.
“What was that?!” Vincent demanded.
“A hellhound that’s been after the council for weeks,” Grayson said, panting. The child, crying hard, ran to him and he picked the boy up.
“Hellhounds are a myth,” Vincent insisted.
“Then what else would you call that monster? He bit off my hand and I was able to save it only with my superior skills in magic,” the wizard said, showing off the red scab across his wrist. “I just received word that your father died a few hours ago, so I assume you came to take his old chair.” He paused, so Vincent opened his mouth to argue. “Kill that beast and the position is yours.”
Vincent didn’t want the position, but something stopped him from turning the council man down. Maybe it was because he wanted to protect them, maybe it was his instincts, maybe it was because his father had just died and he felt that he needed to make a place in the world for himself. “Where can I find it?”
“It never strays far. When it’s not attacking one of us, it is usually seen circling the mansion.”
“I will consider your offer. Is it after some
thing in particular?”
“We think it’s after revenge. It only attacks the members of the council. It ignores the servants as if they’re not even there.”
Ten minutes later, Vincent got back into his car and drove away from the estate. His plan was to return home and gather some of his father’s weapons. Since the council often had to deal with rogue shifters and vampires, his father still had many weapons designed specifically to kill paranormal beings. Furthermore, his father had prepared for vengeful attacks, so he taught Vincent and John to use them.
At the edge of the estate, when he could no longer see the mansion through the manicured trees, he stopped the car and got out to open the estate gates. He had barely gotten it open wide enough for the car to pass through when a harsh growl startled him. He turned, preparing himself to meet his end, and saw the wolf-like beast right behind his car. Vincent raised his right hand to attack and the wolf vanished. In an instant, he was on the ground with the huge wolf growling over him, those gold eyes glowing mere inches from his. The wolf’s growl was lower than Vincent expected, as if he was trying to be undetected.
Vincent’s heart pounded in his chest. When he tried to squirm to the side, one massive paw pinned his chest and prevented him from breathing. This was one of the rare moments when he wished he had John’s power instead of visions. He closed his eyes, both because he didn’t want to see his own bloods splattering, and because he hoped a vision would help him. Inspiration, hope, an idea… he just wanted something to come of his rare and freakish power. What he received was the image of a seriously ugly cat. He felt confusion and then frustration before pressure built in his chest. He thought it was merely the weight of the wolf until the pressure turned hot.
The wolf jumped back as if he had been burned. Vincent opened his eyes in time to see the wolf shoot him a glare and run out onto the road. Not wasting a second, Vincent scrambled off the snowy ground and got into his car, which had lost a considerable amount of its heat. Or maybe it was just the shock setting in.
He drove, shivering, out onto the paved road. It was an unpopulated street with forest on either side. Between the bright moonlight and his headlights, he thought he was in the clear. The movement was so sudden that he slammed on his breaks before he realized what was blocking the road.
Tires screeching and wizard cursing, the car swerved before coming to a stop about a foot away from the huge wolf. The beast never once flinched. The car wasn’t facing the road but angled so that the beast stared at him through the passenger window, blocking the main road with its mass.
Either he could back up and ram the wolf, or he could make a detour. When Vincent just stared at the wolf, it growled. Vincent pressed on the horn, hoping the beast would act like any sane animal and run. Instead, the huge wolf snarled and rammed the side of the car, cracking the window and trashing the door.
At that point, Vincent knew this wasn’t a chance encounter. The beast was intelligent and its actions were intentional. Since it hadn’t killed every member of the council by then, killing must not have been its intention. As calmly as he could, he drove off onto the side road. The wolf easily ran ahead, but it wasn’t stopping the car so much as running beside it. When the wolf took another side road, Vincent followed.
After about ten minutes of this, they arrived at a two-story house that was creepy in every sense of the word. Although it looked like it was being purposefully neglected, the home was new enough that there was no visible structural damage. The gargoyle sitting on the roof over the entrance, which was frozen in a “howling at the moon” pose, was the only thing that looked old.
Vincent got out of the car when the wolf vanished around the back of the house. He studied the yard, wondering if he would be followed if he tried to run, when movement made him look back at the house. Since nothing moved again, it took him a moment to figure out what was wrong.
The gargoyle was looking at him.
The door of the mansion opened and a young woman stepped out, wearing a very conservative green dress. Her curly, shoulder-length, dark brown hair framed an innocent, soft face. Although she was rather average looking, there was something eerily familiar about her. She smiled. “He’s expecting you.”
“Who is?”
“Please come in.” She held the door open wider, but before Vincent could take a step closer, a small child ran out. “Mary!” she shouted. The child ignored her, ran head-first into Vincent’s legs, and wrapped her arms around his knees. “I am so sorry for her behavior. She is usually so well-behaved.”
The child, no older than five, leaned back and smiled at Vincent. Vincent laughed, surprising himself because he never really liked children. Arthur Knight taught his sons that it was the wife’s job to take care of the children, clean the house, and cook. However, since his mother left them, Vincent really didn’t know what to do with the advice. He was generally awkward around women and children.
The woman took the child and Vincent entered the house. It was dim inside, though not gloomy. A fireplace crackled warmly from the sitting room off to the right, which he could see into through the open door. He took off his coat, folded it over his arm, and entered the room. Sitting on one of the two chairs before the fireplace was Hunt. At his feet, the giant wolf sat.
Mary squealed, barged into the room, and threw herself at the wolf. Hunt scoffed. “Girls adore him. I get the feeling I will hate that someday. You met Rosin already, I suspect?”
“That’s your pet?”
The wolf growled, which Mary tried to imitate.
Hunt laughed. “He is no pet. Rosin is my familiar. Would you like some tea?”
The question distracted Vincent for a second and he was startled when an elegant white teacup appeared beside him on a small table he hadn’t noticed before. Unwilling to let himself show how unnerved he was, he ignored the tea. “Why is he so big?”
“As my familiar, he can be any size he needs to be. It also has to do with his genetics, of course, which you will understand later.”
“He destroyed my car.”
“I had to stop you from returning to your home. Your brother has been plotting to kill you for many years, and he has finally found a way around your father’s spell.”
“How do you know about that?” He conscientiously patted his shirt, as if afraid that the scar over his heart was showing.
“You of all people know the power of foreseeing danger, but you lack one skill. Your brother developed the ability to infiltrate minds. You developed the ability to see the future and past. Both of these talents were inherited from your father.”
“I already know what my father could–”
“Neither of these were what made him such a powerful edition to the council,” Hunt interrupted. “What made him so formidable was his uncanny instincts, which not only guided his choices, but also was the key to controlling his other powers. This is why you cannot entirely control your visions and why your brother will never be in a reasonable state of mind.”
“What do I do?”
“For yourself? Nothing. Consider yourself handicapped. Your future child, on the other hand, will possibly develop all three abilities. You only inherited one ability from your father because you also inherited power from your mother. If you have a child with a human, there is a good chance your child will inherit all three abilities. In that case, you must be prepared to protect him from John.”
“What if I don’t? What if I marry a paranormal?”
“Then, if your child has any magic at all, it will not be what Arthur had. You have a much higher risk of ending up with another John.”
“What if I don’t have children at all?”
He frowned. “That is an option. However, that is the kind of decision you may come to regret.” He shrugged. “Or you may not. I know some people who are major snots and I cannot imagine their parents’ shame.”
“The council wants me to kill your wolf.”
“Good.”
Vincent wasn’t
expecting that. “How is that good?”
“Because that was my intention in sending Rosin after them weeks ago. I knew either your father would send you to save them or you would come to me. Either way, they would make you an offer to become a member of the council. It is a simple plan; you pretend to kill Rosin, he vanishes, and you become the newest member of the wizard council. Rosin has faked his death a dozen times already; he is quite good at it.” The wolf glared at Hunt for a moment.
“I don’t want to work for the council.”
“Of course not. The council is corrupt, just like John. I want you to work for me by being a spy on the wizard council, including pushing for me to buy the castle.”
“Why do you want that castle so badly?”
“Like I said, I can only show you.”
“Show me what?”
Hunt stared at the fire for a moment. As he did, Rosin stood and crossed the room to the door, followed closely by Mary. The wolf exited the room just long enough for the child to cross the threshold before reentering without her. The door closed before she could follow. They were alone.
“Long ago, a tower was discovered in the darkness part of a cave. At first, those who found it thought it was manmade because it had four doors, but nothing could get the doors open; not bombs, tools, or acid. Thus, they believed it to have been created by gods. They told their friends, who told theirs and soon, word spilled into the paranormal world. Unfortunately, there was no harmony between the factions of paranormal beings at this time. The wizards believed they were the evolution of humans, the vampires believed they were the predators, the shifters believed they were gods, and the fae believed they were above it all.
“The wizards claimed it as theirs and tried to force the door open, but even the most powerful spell could not scratch it. The vampires bullied their way in, yet their strength fell short. The fae tried after that with no more success to show for it. Finally, the shifters claimed it and never once tried to open the doors. Since they never tried, they could never fail. Instead, they told the other paranormals that they could sense unimaginable evil from within the tower. The wizards decided that if they could not have it, nobody could, so they sealed the cave.