She also insisted on looking in on the children while I went to bed early. Now I knew why. Alicia must have known something about what had gone on. Andre had promised to check in on the kids every day.
Now I was legally responsible for the wellbeing of three more teenagers. As if reading my mind, Elizabita said, "I don't mind the extras. My only child left for the care of another recently, and she is nineteen or so.” There was an excitement in her voice, as if she relished another chance of family life. It made me wonder what had caused her to break her marriage to her former husband.
It wasn’t particularly odd that Elizabita didn’t give an exact human age for her daughter. Many Supernaturals gave status from childhood to adulthood based on experience and achievement, rather than direct age.
Evidently Furies, or some of them, followed that pattern.
That philosophy made good sense for races that could live centuries or longer. It wasn’t as applicable to humans who struggled to finish a single century of lifespan. The irony that straddling between the normal and the supernatural might give me a better understanding of how the societies were formed brought a smile to my face. Maybe, just maybe, I was suited to helping Supes better understand how and where they belonged in the modern world than many out there.
I looked to Alicia and Anslem. Alicia nodded vigorously. Apparently that distraction while training was more than a serious faux pas. Anslem was significantly more reluctant to agree, but eventually he did. "Even with the fracturing of your psyche, which this sort of thing may cause to splinter further, the physical risk it poses going into an unknown situation must be considered first." The regret was clear on his face as he said it, but so was his belief that it was necessary. Elizabita looked concerned when he mentioned the fracturing of my psyche. But she stuck to her original statement, not reframing it at all.
I noticed Hertha taking a tray of food out of the kitchen and dining room area. That was something she never did for herself. I raised an eyebrow, and she said, “Master Taylor wanted to eat alone. He has already run the childers through their morning exercise, and wanted to get some of his own work done. He is tutoring them.”
That didn’t seem particularly odd to me, as I’d already suggested we might need to tutor them with the trouble that Atlanta had caused. They all had a good feel for human society after being educated in schools until high school. Tutoring couldn’t harm any of them at this point, and might provide them some protection. I got a firm whack to the back of my head from Alicia. Evidently my thoughts must have shown on my face.
“Stop those trains of thought. Elizabita has promised to look after your children, and these new ones. Taylor is a Wizard of no small talent. Andre will keep looking in on them. They’re as protected as any children could be. You need to focus on the problem at hand.” I sighed, still concerned about my children, and even more worried now there were three more in the household, but nodded. After I finished breakfast, I went to the study and started looking over the treaties.
After lunch, Anslem insisted I do some exercising and drills. Rather than just having a haft to practice with, I now had a full wooden mockup of an axe. At a guess it was courtesy of Kate, although Hertha could have done the same thing. There was a good point to it. An axe blade can catch and trap a sword between itself and the haft, and can be used to disarm, especially with the design of my Axe. It was a beautiful piece of work, and I exclaimed my pleasure at it over dinner, and thanked whoever had made it without asking. They gave me the answer anyway, as Kate blushed deeply.
This is how things went for a week or more, although I often had more training in the morning, and made sure to wear some stiffened head protection. Eventually, Taylor approached me over what I was studying, more out of curiosity than anything I suspect. When he found out he started laughing so hard he was eventually bent double. I was very confused by this, but waited until he had regained his composure before asking anything.
A grin on his face, he explained it to me. “Alecto really doesn’t like giving up her curses.” At the stormy look on my face, he raised a hand. “She can’t help it. It’s her nature. She has asked you to do the quest, she is responsible for getting you into the region. As an Ancient all she has to do is write a letter of passage. She’s probably already sent it. It’s not like your passports will get here for another couple of days, anyway.” I nodded slowly.
The SSC had expedited all three of our passports, they didn’t want to get in the way of someone on a mission for Alecto.
“Ring her store, find out when she planned on sending it, check with the SSC tomorrow, and book your tickets for when you’ll have your passports. It’s the best you can do. And stop stressing so much. It’ll give you grey hairs,” he said with a grin.
His hair was stark white. So I raised an eyebrow at him eloquently.
“It’s not possible to be a judge for nearly 50 years and not stress. They're the words of wisdom I give you. Wisdom and experience.” He grinned at me as he finished. He was the expert, literally. What could I do but follow his advice?
Epilogue
It was five days later that we found ourselves with everything we needed. On the sixth day, Andre dropped us off at the airport. Apparently there was one flight a day that was reserved for people in the know. It usually left early morning or late evening, to accommodate those sensitive to sunlight.
Today it was leaving around noon. Apparently my presence was considered a risk. They didn't want to have any Vampires try and take advantage of a purportedly human passenger on the flight.
Alicia was shaking with nerves. She'd never flown before, and strangely for a Werepanther, had an aversion to heights. Well, that's not entirely true. She had an aversion to heights from which she was certain she wouldn't survive the fall. If she felt she had a chance to survive the fall, she was fine. Above thirty stories she was terrified.
The day before we left, Elizabita and Taylor had performed a ritual on me. I hadn't been able to get over my feeling of responsibility. My feelings of motherhood. I'm still not entirely sure what they did. I felt somewhere between a part of me being locked up, and a part of me being ripped out.
Strangely enough, I found it freeing. I was free to feel anticipation, excitement and joy that the trip ahead. It was a great relief. But it was also incredibly disconcerting. Still, if it improved my chances in my quest, I couldn't regret it. I could only hope it was only necessary for as short a time as possible.
As the jet's engines tooled up, my excitement only increased. Beside me, the emotional and physical terror that Alicia felt was obvious. Emotionally, it was as if she was curling herself up into a ball. This impression was only enhanced by the fact that she was physically doing the same thing.
Anslem was a solid, silent, stationary rock in his seat. I think he was asleep before we even took off.
The future awaited and unlike before, I felt no trepidation, and only a little fear. Mostly I felt excitement, and for the first time in more than a decade, some hope.
Author’s notes
Well, this one turned out to be a struggle. 3 weeks sick, 3 weeks later than I had hoped to release it, 1 week with the flu and 2 weeks recovering from getting a wisdom tooth ripped out.
Getting a tooth pulled is the third most painful thing I’ve had done (after nerve death and getting a bone drill taken to my sinuses).
Enough about me, onto the book and the series – Early on in the Mongrelverse I realized I wanted a few things different… I wanted the series to be approachable by more readers than my Betrayed by Faith series, and I wanted it to be less militaristic, and more political/social/societal than The Boris Chronicles. This resulted in the Mother of Monsters character being (barely) mentioned in A Mongrel’s Curse
Then I realized what I could do with her, and the character would not leave me alone. (It’s a problem many author have, characters clamoring for their attention.) This book is the result. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you keep reading Breed Matters and M
other of Monsters… and see where all the Mongrelverse heads with me.
Paul C Middleton.
About the Author
Paul C Middleton has worked several jobs, but has had most of his working life in Security. Patrolling dark empty places gave him much time to think on many things. It was not conducive to finding the time or place to write. Then his partner was diagnosed with severe epilepsy, requiring him to reduce his work hours to care for her.
Never one to let the grass grow under his feet, he found that writing enabled him to be available when she needed him and left him feeling like less of a drain on his friends and the world. He also has to thank his two beagles who have become an efficient Epilepsy warning system. When they 'make tongue' he knows to find his partner and get her into a lounge chair or onto a bed.
Links
This is for his Blog
This is for his Mailing list
This is his Author Facebook
This is his Twitter
His Website is www.paulcmiddleton.com
Other Books by Paul C Middleton
Mongrelverse Series
Breed Matters
Book 1 – A Mongrel's Curse
Book 2 – Mongrel's Tooth and Consequence (2nd Quarter 2017)
Face The Music
Book 1 – Wereeagles Fear to Tread
Book 2 – A Mongrel, A Bard and Witches, Oh My!
Mother of Monsters
Book 1 – Cursed Mother (1st Quarter 2017)
Book 2 – Forsaking Motherhood (2nd Quarter 2017)
Book 3 – Mother Remade (2nd Quarter 2017)
Misc. Shorts
A Simple Trip (1st Quarter 2017)
Guarding an Imp (Part of Flight of the Phoenix Anthology)
Betrayed By Faith
Book 1 – Paladin
Book 2 – A-Viking
Book 3 – Myrmidon (3rd Quarter 2017)
The Boris Chronicles (Kurtherian Universe, With Michael Anderle
Book 1 – Evacuation
Book 2 – Retaliation
Book 3 – Revelations
Book 4 – Title Pending (2nd Quarter 2017)
Short Story Contributions to Anthologies
Inanna’s Circle Game, Volume 2 (edited by Kat Lund)
The Expanding Universe, Volume 1 (edited by Craig Martelle)
Cursed Mother: A Mongrelverse Book (Mother of Monsters 1) Page 10