by Petra Landon
“This has always puzzled me, Roman” Duncan said slowly. “Your laws forbid this very possibility — the creation of new life. Yet, your Elders allowed ElBlodMagin to get away with it.”
“Our laws have always been very explicit on this” Roman affirmed. “But the Elders were faced with a Hobson’s choice, Duncan. ElBlodMagin made the argument that the Blutsaugers were an inadvertent consequence of his experiments, claiming that he’d never set out to defy the Forebearers’ wishes, but instead, had merely been playing with his powers. Some First Ones took him at his word but many did not. His own brother opposed him vehemently and insisted that his experiment should not be allowed to stand. In the end, it boiled down to whether the newly birthed Blutsaugers should be put to death for a crime that was not theirs. The Elders gave ElBlodMagin the benefit of the doubt and the Vampires won the right to live with a very narrow margin.”
“With the right to live came the right to propagate their kind” Duncan mused aloud. The leeches were the only Chosen who could create other Vampires artificially. Every other Chosen was born with magic in his blood.
“Once the Elders upheld their birth, they could not discriminate against them” Roman attested. “The Blutsaugers were given the same rights as other Chosen. This is why the decision was so hard, very close and immensely divisive. Whether they believed ElBlodMagin’s intentions or not, there was consensus that this could not be allowed to happen again. A new set of rules, that outlawed many Blood Elemental powers, were added to the books. It also stated that the fruits of any such experimentation would not be allowed to stand. Even today, many Blood Mages have their hands tied when it comes to what kind of magic they can exercise.”
Hawk stood at the window, his gaze on the darkened forest in the distance. Tasia, who’d been observing him for a while, let him be. Though it was easy to forget sometimes, Hawk was a Shifter too, with the same instincts and desires as his brethren. However, his unusual preoccupation soon drew the attention of the others. Sienna and Nandini, engaged in desultory conversation, broke it off to glance at the figure by the window. To catch Hawk brooding was noteworthy for his friends. Sienna glanced at Tasia, a look that spoke volumes. Attentive to her friend’s concerns, Tasia stood up to approach the Shifter.
“You miss being out there, Hawk?” she asked him quietly.
At the remark, he turned to face her, reading the concern on the watchful faces in the room.
“Always enjoy kicking ass” he said lightly, abandoning his vigil by the window to join them, seating himself in one of the chairs. “But no, I was merely wondering why the Clan would follow us here.”
They were in Sienna’s room, where they’d retired once Nandini had shown up at the lodge with a breathless explanation for her absence. By then, Jason and the Shifters had decamped for the forest, to confront the Vampires with the Alpha and Roman.
“Hoping to take us unawares, perhaps” Sienna suggested. “Come at us when we least expect them.”
Nandini shook her head. “It’s near impossible to take Wyrs unawares, Sienna. Hawk’s right. Something’s up.”
“Maybe, a message from Lady Bethesda” Tasia wondered aloud, though she was skeptical of this herself. The last time the lady had wanted to communicate with them, she’d summoned the Alpha. Lady Bethesda knew how to get in touch with them.
“In any case” Sienna said cheerfully. “We have our very own bodyguard. So, whatever it is the Vampires are up to, we’re covered.”
Hawk grinned. “You bet.”
Nandini joined her sister in pulling Hawk’s leg. The youngest Shifter on the team was a favorite of the two siblings. Brought up away from a Pack, Hawk had the innate ability to separate his Shifter when in the company of others. The sisters respected and appreciated the Alpha’s acumen and leadership, Duncan’s steadfastness and wisdom, as well as Atsá’s knowledge and historical perspective. But it was Hawk who they held in affection.
Tasia watched them silently, a smile playing about her lips. Until a waft of magic drifted to her. Though only a whiff, it had her senses roaring alive. Ignoring the others, she peered through the window into the grounds. Nothing stirred in the darkness. Everything lay still and silent beyond the lodge, with no hint of any intruder. Whatever confrontation raged in the forest, it was beyond the axis of her sixth sense. Yet, the hint of magic in the air persisted. It was the merest scent of a Magick’s aura. But it flickered, almost as if the aura was strangled from its usual clarity. But Tasia was convinced that there was a Chosen in the vicinity, one with his powers mangled in some way. The suspicion had her opening up her magic senses, to give them free rein.
It took her a few minutes to narrow it down and pinpoint the Chosen. It wasn’t a Blutsauger, much to Tasia’s relief. The Undead were her worst nightmare — there was always the hazard of spectacularly blowing her cover with one around. The mangled hues, in the aura she sensed, were exotic and pointed strongly to a First One. Perhaps, someone from the resort, she speculated. In her time at the lodge, Tasia had become familiar with the hues of magic from many First Ones they’d come across. But this aura was different.
Abandoning her vigil by the window, she flashed a glance at Hawk. Whoever it was, he was now close enough for a Shifter’s preternatural faculties to sense. As their primary defender tonight, Hawk was on his guard and would not ignore the presence of any interloper. While a Shifter could not differentiate between Chosen and Si’ffa, except when it came to Blutsaugers, their supernatural senses could recognize strangers in their midst. Yet, Hawk remained unruffled, content to banter good-naturedly with his companions. Tasia’s alarm abated a little. If Hawk did not look upon this new presence as a threat, all was well.
But as the Chosen drew closer, Tasia’s disquiet raised its head again when Hawk showed no signs of raising an alarm. Her sixth sense indicated that the interloper was directly under them now, probably a floor below.
She interrupted the Shifter. “Do you sense anyone, Hawk?”
“Just us” he answered readily.
At his nonchalant response, the sense of impending danger flared into life. “Not even someone from the resort?” she persisted.
Hawk shook his head. “We’re clear.”
But her pointed queries had aroused his suspicions. Hawk was no fool. He knew enough about Tasia’s exotic magic.
He met her eyes, his brow furrowed. “What’s up, Tas?”
Tasia took a deep breath, acutely conscious of Nandini and Sienna. The Indian Ancient, once witness to Tasia’s magic, was aware that the Wizard was not who she claimed to be. But Nandini did not know the extent of Tasia’s powers, while Sienna, like the others, was completely in the dark. A moment’s reflection had Tasia determining that the exotic aura, closing in on them, was worth throwing a few heavy-handed hints at Hawk. She hoped that her friend would take the suggestion and run with it.
“I have a bad feeling” she said simply.
Hawk came to attention immediately. Without a word, he strode to the window to scan the grounds, his night eyes scouring the landscape for an intruder.
“My senses tell me that we’re the only ones here” Nandini offered, her eyes swinging from a watchful Hawk to a grim-faced Tasia. She wished she could read the cues from the earth, but they were on the third storey.
“Nothing out there” Hawk stated. “I’ll check the corridor.” His eyes swept the room, no longer the jovial Shifter who’d bantered with them. “Stay put.”
Nandini stood up. Her Naga abilities mimicked that of the Wyrs to a great extent. A second pair of eyes would not go amiss. “I’ll join you, Hawk.”
“No, Nandini. Stay together. It’s what Alph would want.”
The Indian Chosen subsided, her stance vigilant as Hawk opened the door to stride out.
Tasia waited with the others, her heart galloping as the aura wafted closer.
“Nothing here, either.” Hawk’s voice floated to them through the ajar door.
This time, Tasia did not hesitate. T
his was no time to be cautious. She raced for the door, even as exclamations arose behind her. Sienna and Nandini rushed after her, to arrive seconds later into the corridor.
Hawk blinked at them, opening his mouth to remonstrate with the ladies, when Tasia interrupted him urgently. “There’s someone at the end of the corridor.”
Three pairs of eyes darted down the darkened corridor. Hawk’s gaze inspected the dimly lit passage, his body humming. Though his Shifter senses perceived no threat, Hawk trusted his friend, her instincts and her magic. He gathered himself to challenge the interloper. But before he could sprint down the corridor, all three ladies made a grab for him.
“You can’t fight what you cannot see, Hawk” Sienna pointed out quietly. “Keep your powder dry.”
Even though there was no evidence of any intruder, no one questioned Tasia’s proclamation. Instead, they pondered furiously how to blunt the threat, convinced that someone stalked them.
“If we barricade ourselves, we have a better shot at holding off anyone coming through the door” Nandini suggested, gesturing towards the open doorway into Sienna’s room.
A moment’s reflection had Hawk seconding her suggestion. Force the enemy to come to them and defend a limited patch — good strategy against an invisible adversary.
“He’s moving very sluggishly, so we have a few minutes” Tasia asserted, cognizant that fighting off an intruder, only she could pinpoint from his aura, was likely to be a tall order for them. “I’d like to try something.”
Before Hawk could respond, Sienna backed her without hesitation. “Go for it, Tasia.”
Tasia closed her eyes, to locate the Ancient at the end of the narrow corridor. Not only invisible to the naked eye, the interloper also seemed to have the ability to fool Hawk’s Shifter. Which meant that while the intruder could camouflage himself from a Shifter’s hyperalert faculties, he could not hide from her sixth sense. To Tasia, this suggested some mutation of a magic cloak to mask his powers. If her friends had any shot at neutralizing the Magick, she must strip him of the magic that rendered him invisible. With the recognition of what must be done, a feeling of calmness and rightness engulfed Tasia. It struck her that this was no coincidence. She was right where she was meant to be — to defend Sienna and Nandini from the Chosen stalking ever closer. Her mind centered, ignoring all distractions to focus on the problem. The Alpha’s advice from the training sessions reverberated in her. Magic would never be what held her back — she possessed it in spades. The challenge was to use it smartly, to serve her purpose.
The intruder’s use of a magic cloak was good news. Magic could be negated with a different brand of it or with more substantial power. It took Tasia just seconds to zero in on the strategy to employ. Then, it was the matter of a minute to build a tiny square-shaped barrier of power, much like the one she’d constructed the night the Shifters had come to her rescue at the Nest in San Francisco. Except, this barrier had more potent magic than the sieve before. It allowed no Chosen to pass through, blocking all magic. While Tasia had to deploy a lot more power than that expended at the Nest, this barrier was more compact than the wall-to-wall sieve she’d erected in San Francisco to separate the Blutsaugers from the Pack. Thus, it took only a fraction of the time. Through it all, her uncomplaining friends remained vigilant by her side. Their blind confidence in her boosted Tasia’s resolve.
Once it was ready, Tasia carefully positioned her magic barrier, aiming it at the midsection of the Magick walking towards them, using the aura in her mind’s eye to guide her. Her silent companions reined in their impatience while she adjusted the barrier. All of a sudden, something flashed in the barely lit corridor — a momentary burst of blue and white. It glimmered in the air, before blinking away.
With a yell, Hawk pelted down the corridor. His Shifter night eyes allowed him an unimpeded glimpse of the rapidly vaporizing flash of color.
“No” Tasia cried, rudely interrupted in her quest. “Wait, Hawk.” Without a clear path to the intruder, she could not deploy her magic without inadvertently injuring the Shifter.
The only one with agility comparable to a Shifter, Nandini sprinted after him, chasing Hawk down to pull him against the wall.
“Go, Tasia” she called out urgently, once the Wizard had an unhampered line of sight.
At her words, Hawk stilled. He seemed to realize that his part in this would come later, for Tasia was not done yet.
The air in the corridor seemed to sizzle as Tasia went to work, her magic stripping the intruder of his camouflage inch by inch; moving upwards from the glimmer of blue, to reveal the Chosen’s upper body and eventually, her face. A stout woman with graying hair, and a curiously unlined face, stared back at them. Whatever magic had been employed to make her invisible had also slowed her down. This is why the aura had been moving so lethargically. But now, with most of the magic stripped away, there was nothing to slow her down anymore. That seemed to strike the woman almost immediately.
As the four Chosen gaped at her, she peered down at herself in puzzlement. Quick as a flash, she darted for the white-washed wall beside her, to scribble furiously on it with the piece of chalk in her hand.
“What’s she doing?” Sienna muttered, confused by the intruder’s actions.
The low-voiced query had Tasia abandon the task of unveiling the Magick, to glance at the wall. It was too dark to make out anything, so she spelled some light to illuminate that section of the wall. The sudden burst of brightness seemed to startle the woman, but she did not glance up from her task. Something in the intruder’s ornate calligraphy — the lavish strokes, the extravagant flourishes; and the Magick’s singular focus on it, despite her failing cloak, had Tasia frowning. As the clean lines of an elaborate symbol took gradual shape on the wall, it hit her what the intruder was.
“Rune” Tasia said sharply, her voice rising in alarm. “She’s a Rune Mage. Don’t let her finish …”
But Hawk had already leapt for the Mage. It was the signal he’d been waiting for. Wrestling the Mage away from the wall, he subdued her easily.
Wary of the inherent power in a Mage’s rune, Sienna’s gaze shot to the unfinished symbol on the wall, wanting it destroyed before it could take hold. Nandini, closer to the motif, read her sibling’s worry as if she had voiced it aloud. She rushed to erase the elaborate character from the wall. Only to leap back with a sharp cry as the incomplete rune singed her fingers, defying the attempt to eradicate it.
Adrenaline pumped through Tasia, all her senses buzzing. She was in the zone, on a high at having outwitted the Rune Mage. It was time to drop the pretense. Her cover was blown and it was too late to protect it. In her mind, the die had been cast. Now, she must make very sure the intruder, she’d helped bring down, could not harm her friends. Otherwise, breaking her cover would be for naught.
“Stand back, Nandini” Tasia adjured.
The Indian Ancient stepped away without another word, confident that the Wizard could defang the rune. Tasia projected a little of the same magic, that had disrupted the Mage’s invisibility, at the unfinished symbol. Sparks flew as the magic connected with the elaborate design, to take the sting out of the rune. Tasia was careful to leave the marking untouched on the wall, sure the Alpha and the others would want to study it.
“Need something to bind her hands” Hawk interjected from the floor, where the Mage sat unresisting in his hold.
Tasia frowned at the sight. The First One had put up little resistance to Hawk and she wondered why.
“I’ll bind them, Hawk” Sienna offered, striding to the pair. “I might be rusty but that’s high school Wizardry.”
Tasia withdrew the spell that threw light on the rune and the corridor descended into semi-lit darkness, as before. In no time, the Mage was trussed up and secure. Hawk hauled her up, to nudge her towards Sienna’s room.
Nandini stopped him. “Where are you going?”
“I’ll hold her in the room. Alph will decide what to do with her.”
/> The Indian Chosen shook her head. “She’s trespassing, Hawk. The resort should be notified” she protested.
Hawk gestured at his hostage. “The leeches swarm outside to distract us, while an invisible Mage makes for Sienna’s room. Not a coincidence, Nandini. This one is tangled up with our investigation” he countered.
Nandini let out her breath. “If we want other Chosen to co-operate with us, we must accord them the respect they are due, Hawk. As long as we hide things from them, they will not help us.”
Hawk hesitated, unconvinced by her argument. To him, Shifter business was never to be entrusted to others. Yet, the investigation had also given him an appreciation of wider Chosen concerns and politics. So, Hawk wisely did not make the usual Wyr argument.
“She’s right, Hawk” Sienna chimed in unexpectedly. “We need these Setik to help us with the Archmage. An attempted assault on us might convince them that our cause is worthy.”
Hawk turned to his friend. “Tas, what do you think?”
“I’m with Nandini” Tasia said promptly.
“Alright” Hawk acceded. “I’ll keep an eye on her. Please inform our hosts, Nandini.”
“Do not turn your back on her.” The Indian Ancient directed the warning at the Shifter, before striding away towards the reception.
Tasia heaved a silent sigh. She had much damage to mitigate, before the Shifters trooped in from jousting with the Blutsaugers.
“A word, Sienna?” she asked the Wizard.
Hawk shot them a glance. He knew precisely why Tasia desired a conversation with Sienna.
“Use the room” he suggested. “I’ll keep watch out here.”
Without a word, Sienna ushered Tasia into her room to close the door.
But before Tasia could say anything, Sienna made haste to assure her. “You don’t have to explain” she said quietly. “Your secret is safe with me.”
Tasia’s eyes grew round, wondering what had given her away.