Aldric nodded, then sighed and glanced around the kitchen. "I think we both have some things to talk about. I promise you, I will keep your confidences to myself, but before you are willing to trust me with any of your secrets, I understand if you need to hear mine. Though here, among my clan mates, I have nothing to hide. They already know everything I'm about to reveal to you. But perhaps you don't wish to have this conversation where we could be overheard."
He wanted to know about her magic. That was the only thing she could think of, and at this point it seemed fair. She knew he was implying that he hadn't told anyone about it, which made no sense to her but she wasn't going to complain. He was attractive, generous, and had saved her life and Kaylee's. He had given them a place to recover, sheltered her niece from the worst of the situation by bringing them here where another kid was, and had gone out of his way to make sure they were both comfortable in their surroundings.
He already knew that she had some magic, after all, and it's not like she had a lot of it. And he clearly had some magic or something of his own.
Faith nodded. "Okay. Where should we talk?"
"We can go to my room. The clan knows not to bother me when the door is closed, and we can have some privacy." He grimaced and his tone turned wry. “If we sit in my office, we are likely to be interrupted every five minutes with someone’s complaint of problem.”
“Sounds difficult to get any work done,” Faith said with a raised brow.
Aldric shrugged. “It is in part my duty to solve their problems, I grant you. It does, however make it difficult to have an entire private conversation.”
“Well, then. Your room it is.”
Faith stood, and with her phone held in her fist so tightly that her knuckles turned white, she followed him out of the kitchen and to the stairs.
When they got there, Aldric lifted the duffel bag off the desk chair where he had apparently left it earlier and moved it to the bed, before taking the seat he had cleared. Faith felt cautious, but went right to her bag and zipped it open to glance through the contents. Everything was neatly packed, but it seemed to have just been scooped out of the drawers she had claimed at the cabin. Like someone meticulous had been in a huge hurry.
"Tamika and I discussed the situation, and we believe that the best course of action would be to alert the human authorities and tell them that you arrived at the cabin after a hike or some such with Kaylee to find it in its current state, and your sister missing. Then you called me since we knew each other distantly, and I offered my assistance. Or if you would rather claim acquaintanceship with Tamika or Marc, that would work adequately as well."
"Um," Faith chewed her lower lip and sat carefully on the bed. "I–"
She stopped herself and swallowed, then looked around the room.
"We won't stop looking for your sister no matter what you choose as there are more wolves involved, but we feel that the more eyes we can harness in the search, the more chances we will have of being successful," he said. He looked concerned, though about what specifically she wasn’t sure.
"How did you move so fast?" she asked suddenly. She hadn't planned on blurting out any of the questions that were shooting like fireworks through her mind, but, well. Faith didn’t think she could have stopped the question from popping out.
"How much do you know of the paranormal world? You were clearly shocked by the rogue wolves,” Aldric looked almost nervous, now.
"The what?" Faith's eyes snapped to his, and he hesitated.
"I see," Aldric took a deep breath. He shuffled in his seat and seemed to try to shrink a bit, though he wasn't doing a very good job of it. "Well, the paranormal world encompasses a number of species. Most are essentially animals, like cats and dogs."
"That thing wasn't like any dog I've ever seen outside of a movie," Faith said.
"Yes, well. Most paranormal creatures are extremely shy and also fairly rare. Those that are neither are domesticated and kept in secret by their owners. There are, however, paranormals who are, at least in part, human," Aldric took a deep breath. "I, for example, am what is generally known as a vampire."
Faith couldn't have stopped the hysterical giggle that squeaked out if her life had depended on it.
8
Aldric tried to make himself look even less threatening, but he was fairly certain it wasn't working. Aldric was all too aware of how badly humans could react to the news of his kind actually existing. His own father and aunt had been killed by panicked humans. And since they had actually bonded, when his father died, his mother followed soon after.
He was lucky to still have his uncle for council when he needs it. Uncle Eldridge had been simply married, not bonded, so he lived through her death as horrible as it was.
He hoped that Faith wouldn't react that badly, but then he supposed that panic wasn't especially logical.
"Please, I swear to you. You are safe here. I would never harm you," he tried to reassure her, but Faith stood and started pacing the room. “I do not feed from humans or other paranormals.”
"What, why... how?" Faith was sputtering. She spun and stabbed a finger at him. "How can you be a vampire? I've seen you outside in broad daylight!"
"That is a fairly common myth. The idea that monsters are things that can only creep in shadows and under the cover of darkness is fairly pervasive," Aldric tried to smile at her. "I can understand that. It is a terrible thing to be afraid. If the sunlight could keep evil at bay, it would provide a great deal of reassurance to the people who need it."
Faith stared at him. "Reassurance."
"Indeed," Aldric twitched his shoulders in the suggestion of a shrug. "Evil is not dissipated by the sun, sadly. Monsters are not relegated to going bump only in the night."
"Obviously, but what does that have to do with anything?" Faith asked. She sat heavily on the bed, and it did not escape his notice that she put as much distance between herself and him as she could.
Aldric swallowed his disappointed sigh. "I am simply illustrating that the myth of vampires being unable to walk in the sunlight is due to the idea that creatures that are cast as evil must be relegated to the dark only, as the sunlight is too pure for them to survive. We both know that is not true. And even genuinely nocturnal creatures aren't destroyed by sunlight. They simply try to be in bed by then."
Faith stared at him and he looked back, meeting her hazel eyes. They were warm, brown with green streaked through them, and he mentally shook himself out of such distracting observations.
"So what would you have me believe, then?" she asked at last. "Don't try to convince me that you're not dangerous."
"I am simply myself," Aldric truly did shrug now. "Vampires live and die and have children and friends and jobs. I grant you that we live a great deal longer than humans do, and have children less often. I am just over a century old, for example. And yes, I am capable of violence. In part because that is my job. I am the head of security for our clan and I take that very seriously. I must be prepared to take action against things like those rogue wolves at any moment."
Faith swallowed. "I suppose I should be glad of that, anyway. It could have gone very badly for me and Kaylee otherwise."
Aldric felt a tension he hadn't realized he carried release with those words, and sent Faith a smile.
"So, everyone here is a vampire? Is Kaylee safe?" Faith asked, standing again and looking as if she couldn't decide whether to pace again or rush out to check on her niece.
Aldric stood and stepped to the window and nodded at the scene below. Faith joined him, stepping close and proving that she at least trusted him somewhat with her own safety. Together they peered out the window to where Kaylee and her new friend Jake were demanding that Marc and Tamika push them on the swings. Delighted laughter filtered faintly through the glass.
"And they're vampires, too?" Faith asked again.
"No. There are only four of us in the clan. Myself, my uncle, and his children," Aldric knew that the next statement would
not help her maintain her newfound calm. "Marc, Jake, and Tamika are wolf shifters. Werewolves."
Faith didn't say anything this time. No laughing or pacing or panicked breathing. Had she come across wolves before?
"Of course they are," she said. She took a deep breath and pressed her lips together and nodded. "Naturally. And you have unicorns out in a back pasture and dragons for an air force. Just how gullible do you think I am? Just because I have some... some skills and I saw those dog-things this morning, doesn't mean you can bullshit me like that."
She grimaced and clenched her jaw, and he could sense her anger rising. While anger at the situation was preferable to blind panic, Aldric needed her to accept the reality of the situation so that they could adequately plan their next steps.
Faith, look at me,” Aldric said. He felt the shift come over him, tingling over his skin like it always did. His gums twinged and his vision shifted, Faith's body heat standing out with a beautiful glow.
He knew what she saw when she turned: dark eyes stared back at her unblinking from an ice-pale face. His dark hair made the look even more dramatic and when he bared his teeth in a grin, his fangs scraped against his lower lip. If she could tear her shocked and frightened gaze away from his face, she would notice that his body was slightly leaner looking now, his muscles ready to burst into action and catch his prey with dark claw-tipped fingers.
Her eyes grew large as plates and her jaw hinged open and shut twice, silently groping for words.
"Breathe, Magaestra, I will not hurt you."
He pulled his human form back to the surface and stepped away from the window. He took her elbow gently and led her back to the bed to sit, and crouched at her feet to look up at her. All the blood had rushed from her face and she stared back at him with wide, frightened eyes. The same eyes that had looked at the rogues.
That hurt in a way Aldric was not prepared to analyze.
"I will not hurt you. I swear it on my life. I promised you protection, and that is what you will have here. Marc is the leader of the Frostwalker Clan and he has promised me and Kaylee to keep you both safe, and he is a man of his word if nothing else."
Faith just sat there, breathing noisily. her eyes squeezed shut.
"Please, Magaestra. Say something?" Frightening this woman was the last thing he wanted to do. She had enough stress already to spur anxiety, he himself should not be one more thing on that list.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Faith didn't open her eyes, or move, and her voice was shaky and weak, but it was words as he had requested, and they weren't hesitant.
"That is the title that my parents used when addressing the clan's last magic using human. She was a kind woman, but very old for a human at the time when she finally passed. I was still young and new here and and busy with my own affairs, so I only have a few memories of her. Mostly her laugh has remained in my memories," Aldric said, a half smile on his face at the memories that poured through his mind. "But also her hands as she baked. I remember she baked cookies for us. Something spicy and sweet. Oh, I haven't thought of those cookies for years."
He blinked away the memory to find Faith's eyes open again and staring at him. She looked uncertain.
"What is it?"
"I..." She pulled her lips between her teeth and the uncertainty in her eyes increased now. "I suppose we should talk about that."
Ah.
"Your magic? I would like to, yes," he said. She was no longer nearing panic, so with a last searching look, he stood and resumed his seat. "It has been a very long time since I saw a human capable of using magic."
"It can't be that strange, I mean, you just changed your whole body!" Faith said. “You’re a vampire!” She still sounded slightly
"Generally, it is possible to either use magic or to be magic. I cannot manipulate anything outside of myself. That has long been the domain of you humans. The very special ones attuned to it," Aldric said. There was no easy way to say the next part, so he simply left it with a statement. "And I had thought your kind was extinct."
Faith drew in a sharp breath and seemed to process that. "I guess that's why Mom always made us swear to keep it a secret."
"Very wise advice," Aldric nodded. "Nearly anyone other than myself and a few others I could name– such as Marc and our inner circle– and revealing that secret to them could have had horrible consequences. This may be the key to why your sister is missing, however, and it is one reason why I am so concerned for your safety. Does your sister also possess magic?"
Faith chewed on her lip. Her gaze shifted from Aldric back to the window where the faint sounds of laughter were still seeping through the glass. He waited. Either she would trust him with her sister's secret or she wouldn't.
He could guess, though. This skill ran in families, which is why it had proved so easy to snuff out. End the bloodlines that could use magic, and the human's access to magic– and the paranormals access to outside magic– was wiped away.
Finally, Faith turned back to him and nodded. "A little."
He nodded. "I have not told anyone else about what I saw you do. Only that I arrived in time to keep the rogues from harming you, and I wrapped your arm myself. I trust Marc with my life, though, and I think we must tell him as head of the clan, so that he can make the best decisions. We will not tell the clan at large, though, no matter what you choose to tell him. The more people that know a secret, the more likely it won't remain secret."
"Thank you," Faith said quietly. "What happened to the others? The humans that could use magic?"
"Do you truly not know?" When she shook her head he grimaced and spoke again. "There was a war. As I said before, paranormals aren't much different than humans, and there are those of us that are greedy and those of us that are lustful, or arrogant, or cruel. One of the vampire covens in Europe was greedy for power, and they were led by a cruel, sadistic, evil vampire named Wilhelm. He started recruiting mages to cast spells for him. They enchanted objects and weapons, armor and machines of war. Soon he was taking land and stealing humans that had magic whether they wished to work for him or not, and killed anyone who stood in his way."
"That's horrible! How did he do all this without the world noticing?" Faith gasped.
"The world did notice. I'm sure you read about it in your history books when you were in school. You simply didn't learn about the power behind the power. One despotic madman used another to cover his campaign, and both the paranormal and human worlds were swept away in it,” Aldric grimaced again. “World War Two had many repercussions, and what happened then is still sending ripples through the world."
"Holy shit," Faith breathed.
"Further away from Welhelm’s influence, covens and packs and clans like ours that are comprised of both kinds of human-like paranormal— we all reacted differently. Some tried to hide any humans that had magic that they could find. Some followed Wilhelm’s lead and enslaved them. Some..." Aldric was reluctant to finish the story. Faith had thus far shown him a great deal of trust. He understood that he was, by nature, a predator. He could not help what he was born as.
"Some?" she prompted.
Aldric shook his head sadly. "In the world, one may either be magic, like vampires and werewolves, or they can have magic, like you." He glanced up to see her reaction, but otherwise stayed as still as he could. "Your magic flows through your blood, and as such, is prized by many. Willhelm ultimately fell victim to the lust for that power, and mage families around the world paid the price for his greed.”
Aldric couldn't bring himself to say outright that her kind had been hunted to extinction for their blood. He wasn't that brave.
9
He couldn't be saying what she thought he was saying. Could he? But Aldric sat there, his shoulders slumped, looking slightly ill.
"Do you mean to tell me that my blood is magically delicious?" The phrase from the old cereal ads just popped out of her mouth.
Aldric, however, didn't laugh. He actually hunched slightl
y further into himself. Either he was an amazing actor, or she was making a big, bad, monster-killing vampire cower in his seat like a naughty school kid.
"I am afraid that is exactly the case,” he said. “Well, that is the idea at any rate. Some covens took Wilhelm’s actions as permission to hunt all humans freely. Others were simply just as greedy as he was, and they all wanted to accumulate enough power to either defend themselves against him or to be attractive to him as an ally. The war provided them all with an excuse, just as it did for the humans who turned on one another. The Nazis unwittingly made it easier for those who would hunt mages to do so."
"So..." Faith was putting it together. "Wow. My great-grandparents sent my grampa and his brother away to their best friend's ranch. I know that Grampa was pretty young at the time, and didn't understand, but they never saw their parents again. I bet the friends were hiding them."
Aldric glanced up at her. "It likely saved their lives. I wonder now how many more families did similar things. I had thought that mages were.. ah... extinct."
"An endangered species, perhaps," Faith grinned, imagining herself as the blue whale of humanity. "But clearly there's still a few of us."
"And you were taught to keep your secret at all costs," Aldric nodded. "A wise choice."
"Mom always said that it would be dangerous for us if anyone found out what we can do, so we had to learn to control it so we didn't accidentally use it in public. Like by knocking a glass over from across the room or using a magic breeze as personal air conditioning something."
"You have the power of moving objects?" Aldric tipped his head in thought. "I suppose, considering how you created that shield, it makes sense. A solidified mass of magic could be used to manipulate other things."
Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series Page 6