by Petra Landon
Tasia watched the vampire Mistress drink greedily from the wrists being offered to her while panting with pain, her hand clutching her throat. The desperate feeding made blood flow off Franciszka’s lips, down her neck and onto the pale skin of her chest to mingle with the diamonds at her throat. Tasia averted her eyes in disgust.
How can this be? I’ve never heard of Shifter blood being poisonous to the Clan.
To the best of her knowledge, only a rare kind of Chosen had blood flowing through their veins that was poisonous to vampires. And it certainly wasn’t the Shifters!
Raoul watched Franciszka gorging greedily on the blood offered to her by her vampires until she eventually stopped screaming in agony. Hiding his shock and incredulity at the turn of events behind his usual mask of impassiveness, Raoul wondered furiously what the hell had just happened. He gestured quickly to Duncan to get Tasia out. They had overstayed their welcome here. No point tempting fate when you didn’t need to. One thing was certain - Franciszka had certainly gotten his message. And then some!
None of the vampires made a move to stop them as they trooped out of the room, down the stairs and out of the mansion into the waiting SUVs. Tasia heard the Alpha say something quietly to Luis who ushered their party to an empty SUV before signaling the other cars in the entourage. Luis slipped into the driver’s seat to pull out quickly as the rest of the cavalcade fell in line behind them. Tasia, sandwiched between Duncan and Hawk in the back seat, sat tongue-tied in sheer shock from the events in the Mistress’s hall.
Hawk stared at his Alpha incredulously and, unlike Tasia, gave vent to his astonishment.
“Uh … Alph, what just happened in there! How’d you manage to poison Mistress Franciszka?”
Raoul shrugged in response.
“Damned if I know. But that woman is going to think twice before she pulls that stunt on me again. On the plus side, there’s no doubt that I’ve managed to convince her that it was me last night.”
Tasia relaxed with relief at his words. The Alpha certainly seemed to believe that they’d been successful in their mission tonight. And why not? After his display of power in the Mistress’s hall, she certainly was convinced that he was more than a powerful Shifter. So why wouldn’t the vampires take the Alpha at his words that he’d been the Magick in play last night. Tasia felt both grateful and thankful for this reprieve for it meant that the vampires’ attention had been successfully diverted away from her. But how on earth had he reduced the Mistress to a screaming bag of bones with one taste of his blood, she wondered. The only conclusion to reasonably draw from this was that his blood had a lot more magic flowing through it than the average Shifter. For no Shifter, no matter how powerful he be, had that kind of power in him. Of that Tasia was sure! She recalled Hawk’s words about the Alpha’s ability to respect her secrets. Is this what he had meant, Tasia wondered.
Hawk laughed aloud suddenly.
“I’d be very careful if I were you, Alph. After tonight, the Mistress is going to want you in her bed even more than before.”
Tasia observed a sliver of distaste cross the Alpha’s usually impassive expression.
“Oh, Franciszka wants to screw anything that moves and a lot of things that don’t.”
Tasia glanced wearily around the cozy room as she fought valiantly to stay awake for her summons to see the Alpha. She was bone weary after a spate of nights with little sleep. Last night after that surreal and terrifying visit to the vampire Mistress, she’d fallen into bed late, only to suffer nightmares and wake up exhausted. Something about being tortured and starved while a woman with cold blue eyes watched her mercilessly. The Shifters seemed to work insane hours. Or at least, their Alpha did. Controlling a powerful Pack of five hundred aggressive and volatile Shifters probably needed that kind of stamina.
She gazed longingly at her comfortable bed. This spacious room at the Lair, as the Shifters referred to the Pack house, had been allocated to her. She’d been informed that the Alpha wanted her to stay at the Lair while the rogue Shifters were on the loose. Hawk, who’d been deputed to do the informing, had couched it as a request although Tasia had a suspicion that it had been more of a command. She was beginning to understand how his Alpha operated. In either case, Tasia had agreed without many qualms. While the Pack hunted the mercenaries, her goal was to stay safe and make no waves so that one day soon, she could go back to her old life of an impoverished L2. Although it felt uncomfortable to accept protection and shelter from complete strangers, Tasia knew that her best bet was to accept Shifter hospitality until they caught the two surviving mercenaries.
The Alpha had also wanted her to stay within the safe walls of the Lair at all times but that she’d felt unable to comply with. Venturing outside her gilded cage was essential for Tasia if she intended to continue her employment. She’d fought too hard to find a job, any job in San Francisco. And now that she had one that she liked, she didn’t intend to chance it. Tasia had counted herself lucky that it’d been Hawk delivering his Alpha’s message. Hawk had heard out her hesitant explanation and then assured her that he’d take care of it. Two Shifters had been assigned to accompany her when she ventured outside the Lair. As long as she provided them with the day’s itinerary every morning, the Shifters were available to escort her. Hawk had warned her to be careful at work and not to venture out anywhere alone without her Pack bodyguards. A young gangly tongue-tied blond named Evgeny and a stocky dark-haired Shifter named Joaquim had showed up at her door to escort her to work this afternoon. The two Shifters had introduced themselves before silently driving her to the restaurant without a single word exchanged. She’d not been asked for directions. Tasia took that to mean that someone had briefed them on where she worked and her working hours.
Friday nights were always busy and tonight had been no exception, leaving Tasia very few moments to ponder her situation. The wound on her wrist from the Undead’s bite two nights ago had seemed particularly achy after carrying heavy loads of plates and silverware throughout the evening. Add to it, her lack of sleep the night before and she’d been really glad to see the end of her shift. To her surprise, Hawk had been waiting for her by the foyer to escort her back to her temporary home at the Lair. Some of her co-workers had teased Tasia about her good looking new boyfriend which she’d had to laugh off lightly.
If only life was that simple.
The Alpha wanted to talk to her tonight no matter how late she got in, Hawk had informed her quietly, his dark eyes sympathetic. Tasia had sighed hoping that it was to be a short conversation but knowing that it probably was a continuation of what the Alpha referred to as unfinished business between them. It would be another nerve-racking session with the scary head-honcho Shifter, she’d concluded wearily.
“Just tell him what you can, Tasia” Hawk had repeated softly at her sigh. “He’s managed to convince the blood suckers that it was him that night at the fight, so you’re safe from their attentions. Frankly how he managed to do that to the Mistress last night, I have no idea!”
“The Mistress said something about his wizard ancestry” Tasia had inquired curiously.
“Yeah, his mother was a wizard. Franciszka was taunting him with that little tidbit – her way of trying to rile him up, I suppose. He doesn’t like to be reminded that he has wizard blood flowing through him. Not overly fond of Spell Casters, our Alpha. Present company excluded, of course” he’d added hurriedly with a charming grin, belatedly remembering his audience.
A young Shifter came to fetch Tasia well after midnight. Tasia, who’d dozed off in the chair while awaiting the inevitable summons, followed him up the main flight of stairs to the top floor. She was still attired in her work uniform of knee-length black skirt and white shirt - the only clothes Sara had been kind enough to bring over for her, apart from an old shabby nightshirt that she usually slept in.
Tasia hoped to hell that the water she’d splashed on her face to freshen up would also help to clear up the cobwebs in her tired head. All th
ese years, she’d held steadfast to the important directive her father had drummed into her head – hold your secrets close to the chest and trust absolutely no one. She liked to think that it had helped her survive since her father’s death. However, if she’d learnt anything from the events of the past week, it was that she still needed allies to survive (even mostly incognito) in the world of the Chosen. She had worked hard to not put a single foot wrong in the three months since she’d chosen to make San Francisco her home. And yet somehow she’d managed to find herself in the crosshairs of a bunch of unsavory Chosen.
Now, unless she intended to flee San Francisco to start over somewhere new again, she’d essentially been left with two options. Use her considerable magic to keep herself safe which would mean the proverbial coming out of the wizard closet to announce her array of extraordinary skills to the rest of the Chosen. Or blend in as an ordinary low ranking member of some kind of Chosen collective that was willing to provide protection and allow her to hide out as an L2 wizard. The first option was unthinkable – no matter how powerful the magic that flowed within her, she wouldn’t last long without any allies to back her up once the Chosen knew her truth. On the other hand, if there was an entity that might be an appropriate collective for her to be a part of, one of the more powerful Shifter Packs in the Americas was not a bad choice. Not like she had any other options, Tasia reminded herself. She couldn’t go near the Undead - one lick and they’d start dropping like flies and there would go her anonymity. Joining any type of wizard organizations (rare though they were) was out of the question – it would be too hard to hide the extent of her magic from them on a daily basis. The margin of error was too narrow to risk that option. The Ancients were not exactly clamoring for her to join them since they had no clue about her very existence. A Shifter Pack, on the other hand, was governed like a military organization – strict hierarchy with chain of command and no questions asked for blindly following orders. They were the Chosen who depended on truckloads of brute physical strength and very little magic. They formed simple and well-defined collectives where every single Shifter knew his or her role. The downside was that their collectives were populated by violent and border line psychotic elements kept in line by the utterly ruthless and dangerous predators masquerading as their Alphas. Tasia hoped that if she played her cards right, the dangerous predators would find her not worth their interest while the ones further down the food chain would mark her as not worth the trouble. If given any kind of entry into this particular collective, she’d have to walk a fine line between too much aggression and too little assertiveness. That, she was convinced she could learn to do, considering the alternatives were so completely unpalatable. The million-dollar question was whether the Alpha would be willing to offer her the protection of the Pack and how much information would she have to reveal to be allowed entry into his collective.
The ubiquitous Shifter sentinel standing guard outside the Pack Room held open the heavy steel door for her to walk through. There was a brief moment of déjà vu as she glanced around the large room. The Alpha leant against the mantel while Duncan sat in the big chair to his side with Hawk beside him. The Alpha nodded at the Shifter holding the door open. Tasia heard a soft click as the door closed shut leaving her the cynosure of three pairs of eyes.
First line of business - hold your nerves and show no fear.
She allowed her steady gaze to move from the Alpha, passing it over Duncan before allowing it to rest on Hawk. Hawk sent her a quick reassuring wink with an encouraging quirk of his lips. A little reassured, Tasia made her way into the room. Raoul watched as the young wizard crossed the room to them composedly. Her slight figure was dressed in a little black skirt and a white shirt that had probably been crisp when she’d started out this afternoon. He let his eyes deliberately wander down her lithe frame, past long slim legs to the small black pumps and then back up leisurely again, until he could discern wariness in those expressive gray eyes. Only then, did he deign to gesture her towards the plush leather couch to his left. She settled herself on it to fold her hands primly in her lap before straightening her spine. He turned slightly to his left to face her.
“You wanted to see me, Alpha” she inquired politely.
“How did you manage the Level 2 certification?”
Jump right to it, why don’t you. I guess I don’t merit any small talk.
“My father knew someone who helped us fake the test.”
Raoul quirked an eyebrow at her, his gaze steady although Tasia sensed that she’d managed to catch him off guard a little. Perhaps he’d not been expecting this easy a capitulation from her.
“I’ve always known that I have more magic in me than the average wizard out there. My father was a high level himself and he taught me to control my power. He warned me that it’d be a very dangerous world for me if the Chosen ever discovered how much magic exists in me. So far, I’ve been very careful to keep this secret. I’m just trying to live a normal life and ensure that I attract no attention.”
There was a small pregnant silence. Tasia held her breath.
“Where do you get your magic from?” the Alpha inquired quietly.
“My father was a high level wizard and I’ve been told that my mother was off the charts. Her family disowned her when she ran off with my father. They didn’t want anything to do with us. She died when I was a baby and my father brought me up alone.”
“Where’s your father now?”
“He’s dead” she responded simply.
“What did you do to the leeches that night?” he asked relentlessly, escalating his queries to other dangerous topics that she wasn’t keen to discuss.
Tasia gripped her hands more tightly in her lap. She hesitated, taking a deep breath, ready to spell out the carefully vetted words that she’d spent all day preparing. Then the big bad Alpha managed to surprise her.
“You have my word, Tasia Armstrong, that nothing you say will leave this room but I need to know what I’m to protect before I promise to keep you safe” he said softly.
Tasia stared at him in astonishment. He gazed back at her coldly with his usual imperturbability but she thought that she could discern a slight softening in the expression on his face. The words had been spoken in a gentler tone than the one he’d used on her last night. The softer tone, more than the words of reassurance, convinced her to tell him a little of the truth.
“I built an impenetrable wall of magic anchored on two sides of the hall to keep the vampires from crossing it” she explained with great precision.
The Alpha narrowed his eyes at her.
“You can selectively deny a subset of Chosen from crossing your magic? My Shifters were certainly able to pass through your magic barrier easily.”
Tasia shook her head slowly. This was where she’d have to feed him half-truths while trying to ensure the lies were convincing ones. The Alpha was not a man to allow the grass to grow under his feet. And he would be ruthless, bellicose and dangerous if he caught her out.
“I can only single out vampires – something to do with them not really being alive.”
Tasia waited a heartbeat to calm the frenzied beat of her heart before she spit out another half-lie.
“The magic is pretty powerful. It ripped open the cut to my wrist and made it bleed again.”
The Alpha watched her silently, his big body held curiously still as the gold eyes coldly evaluated her response. A quick sideways glance by Tasia indicated that the two other Shifters in the room watched them both intently.
“What about the leech that bit you? I wasn’t aware that a leech could be killed by magic, no matter how powerful.”
“That part is a little hazy for me” she admitted. “I remember waking up in that room with my wrist hurting from the bite and the blood over me. It was dark and the thing ... the vampire was crouched over me. And then he was gone and you came in.”
She clenched her hands tighter with nervousness and anxiety; and watched those cold eyes
note that detail like everything else he seemed to notice and file away.
Please please make him believe me. This secret is too important to let out of my kitty.
“I know that my magic tends to work well against vampires but I’m not sure it is anything I did. I’ve tried but I cannot remember” she reiterated steadily, sheer terror at revealing this particular secret outweighing her fear of the Alpha for once.
“Shall I assume then that you will let me know if you do remember any more about this magic you do not recall using” he suggested softly. His eyes let her know that he did not believe her and would be filing away this particular conversation for another time.
“How did you know that Hawk was being held by those mercenaries?” he asked, deftly changing the line of inquiry to another one of interest to him.
“I overheard them when …” she trailed off at the furious expression that came over the Alpha. A quick glance at Hawk showed him shaking his head imperceptibly at her.
“I would watch my next words very carefully if I were you, witchling! You’re dangerously close to lying to me again” he bit out, his words reiterated by the coldly furious expression in the gold eyes.
“Um … what makes you think that I’m lying?” she managed to stammer out.
“Because no Shifter would ever be overheard, accidently or otherwise” he informed her coldly. “We possess extraordinary hearing and are paranoid by nature. And assume the same of other Chosen. A Shifter would make damn sure, especially with other Chosen in the vicinity, that he said nothing he didn’t want anyone to hear.”
Damn, damn, damn! I’ve boxed myself into a corner with this one.
“I could sense that Chosen blood that been spilt recently in that warehouse. The room reeked of magic” Tasia spoke without looking up, her eyes on her tightly clenched hands.
A pin drop silence descended on the room. There was a small and involuntary movement from Hawk and then everyone froze. The Alpha straightened up from his indolent position by the mantel.
