Magaestra: Loyalties: An urban fantasy series

by Katherine Kim

  "Whoever she takes after, she will be a force," Aldric remarked.

  Faith snorted. "That's what I'm afraid of."

  "Who was her father, anyway?"

  The voice made both of them startle. Aldric cursed internally at forgetting Detective Lincoln was inside the house rather than outside it as he usually had been kept previously. Where was his head this morning?

  Faith turned to eye him before turning back to the pancake batter and giving it a stir. "I think perhaps all our explanations and secrets should be discussed once. Let's wait for Marc to come back inside. Would you like some more coffee? You were tired before all this and I'm sure flinging fireballs at murder dogs didn't help."

  The detective grunted, then muttered "Coffee would be great, thanks. Just black."

  Faith nodded and flicked a glance at Aldric who took the hint and opened a cupboard. Once Detective Lincoln was sipping at his coffee, the room fell silent. Aldric kept an ear tuned to the children in the living room, and knew when Marc stepped in the front door.

  It was a few minutes later that he came into the kitchen and picked up his own mug of now-cold coffee, drained it, and went for the fresh pot.

  "God, what a way to start a day," he grumbled. "Jake is probably stuck like that for a few hours at least. He is way too young for his first shift. Leo is set up in my office doing his best for the moment. He says there's at least two covens represented out there from the vamps he could ID before they withered away, which is a hell of a lot more information than we had before, but not the kind we wanted."

  "Kaylee is very disappointed that she can't shift, too, and wants to know when she will," Faith snorted. "You should probably brace yourself for a ton of questions."

  "Oh, lord," Marc slumped into a chair. "Thanks. I'll feed the kids in a bit assuming we can get Jake kid-shaped again, but on my way by I set Kaylee up with one of those smoothie pouches, and left one for Jake if he can shift back on his own. Eldridge is with them, and a sentry. What a mess." He nodded at the growing stack of pancakes on the plate next to Faith. She nodded and flipped another.

  "Just what is her other option, besides wolf?" Detective Lincoln asked, tightly. "And who is her father? I want some damned answers."

  Marc tipped his head to look at the detective. It was an expression Aldric knew well. His friend was a shockingly accurate judge of character. It wasn't anything he had ever been able to explain, but when he decided to really look at you like that, it was as if he stared into your soul.

  It was one of the things that made him such a good leader. And one of the reasons Jake didn't try to get away with too much mischief.

  Marc nodded once, and shrugged. "It's not my story to tell," was all he said. But he glanced at Faith, who met his eyes for a moment and then nodded.

  "Her father turned out to be Jesse Honeyford," Faith said, turning back to her cooking. "Well, that's the current theory. We haven't done a paternity test or anything, but that's why he was harassing Crissy before we came up here. He found out that he had left a kid behind and decided that he could sell her to his, um..."

  "To his Alpha," Marc said, still staring at Detective Lincoln, his hands casually wrapped around the coffee mug. Marc was anything but relaxed, and Aldric suspected that the detective knew it.

  Lincoln scowled. "That's disgusting."

  "We quite agree," Aldric said mildly.

  "But Honeyford's been dealt with. Think Alpha Molin is still after her?" Faith asked. She turned off the heat and moved the pan to a cool burner before grabbing the plate of pancakes and her coffee and taking them to the table. Aldric reached for the stack of plates and forks he had set on the counter before the attack and carried them over with him.

  "God knows with those Goldfangs. Molin is a greasy, power hungry jackass," Marc sighed.

  "Is this the reason I have bodies piling up?" Lincoln growled. "Some piece of shit werewolf is after a kid?"

  Faith stared at her coffee for a long moment before she looked up to stare Lincoln in the eye. "Why did you start throwing those fireballs? In front of everyone?"

  Lincoln blinked, startled out of his aggressive irritation. "What?"

  "You heard me. It wasn't exactly subtle. I know that everyone in this room saw what you did," Faith said. Aldric kept the grin from his face, but to hear her voice so strong and sure in a situation like this warmed him. "You saved those kids, and we are all in your debt, but I think it's time for some truths between us."

  Marc nodded and sat up straight. "She's right. I am Marc Keller, Chief of the Frostwalker Clan, and we owe you a debt for protecting our children. You are welcome here, Magaester." His tone was serious and his words formal, and Detective Lincoln turned his still startled gaze to the big man.

  He blinked a couple of times and cleared his throat before growling. "I did what anyone would do."

  "You know full well that's not true," Aldric said. "Many would have run at the first sign of a blighthound. You pulled your weapon and fired on it. Then, when that proved ineffective, you revealed your most closely kept secret to an entire field full of paranormals, some of whom were very clearly enemies. You showed us not only what you are, but who you are, and also that you are willing to trust us with that information. You honor us, Magaester. I am Aldric Donnelly, Head Enforcer for the Frostwalker Clan, and I thank you for your aid." He bowed his head respectfully.

  Lincoln turned and stared at Aldric for a long moment, his eyes narrowing. Aldric sighed internally and waited for what he knew was coming.

  "And what would your kind know about honor, vampire?" Lincoln spat.

  "Hey!" Faith sat up straight and glared at the man. "Aldric has put himself between Kaylee and danger more times than you know, starting even before he knew us. He and Marc and the whole clan have gone out of their way to protect us when they had no reason to. Mia died rescuing those kids. Aldric damn near died too. I won't let you badmouth him no matter what you did for us."

  Aldric sat up a little straighter and he tried to hold back the smile that her words brought to his lips.

  Detective Lincoln just snorted.

  "Look," Marc broke into the exchange. "Now that we are all fully and openly aware of each other, I think we can share information a little more freely. Crissy was initially kidnapped by the fixer for the Goldfang Stalker pack, Jesse Honeyford. He was trying to get his hands on Kaylee to turn her over to his alpha when she hit puberty."

  "Disgusting," Lincoln snarled again.

  "Agreed," Marc nodded. "When we finally found Honeyford and his thugs after they snatched the kids, we managed to free them, but before we left the scene, a second group attacked and took Crissy with them, though we managed to protect the children."

  "And these new bad guys?" Detective Lincoln's voice dripped with sarcasm.

  "Vampires and blighthounds. Enough hounds to nearly overwhelm our forces, but we managed to drive them back," Marc said with a grimace. "Not that I would say we won that fight."

  "They took Crissy in the confusion. The kids were with me inside my shield, and Ori fended off some hounds while Aldric fought off the vampire that was trying to corner us," Faith added. "It was pretty horrible, seeing everyone getting hurt so badly. And that one guy almost got me and the kids, too."

  "You saved the kids," Aldric reminded her. "And you saved my life, Ori's life, and killed that bastard." He reached out and rubbed a hand over her shoulders, and smiled when she leaned into him. The detective sneered, but said nothing.

  "All I did was provide the opportunity by distracting your opponent," Aldric finished his thought.

  "So," Marc took the narrative back. "Now we are fighting a pack war against the Goldfangs, because Alpha Molin believes that this was all a good excuse to try to take our territory."

  "And naturally these Goldfang assholes have sent their pet vampires to into my jurisdiction," Lincoln growled.

  Marc tipped his head, confused. "Actually, they have no vampires. They're a plain pack of shifters, which is why we're
confused by the mix of wolves, vamps, and hounds that attacked this morning."

  Lincoln glared at Marc, then glanced at Faith and stabbed another pancake onto his plate.

  "What about the newest body? There was another one out by the old logging spur. Couple of kids found it when they were hiking a couple of days ago," he said. "Body was a day or so old. Mauled badly. No ID on 'em either, so we're still trying to sort that out. You missing anyone?"

  Marc sighed. "I don't think we are, no, but I'll call around to make sure. The corpse was a wolf?"

  "Bloodsucker."

  "Well then, no, whoever it was, they weren't a Frostwalker," Marc said. "All our vampires have been accounted for. I visited the clinic overnight, and the rest were here this morning in the battle. Must have been a fairly young vampire, as well, if the body didn't look like a senior citizen."

  "Or a mummy," Faith added.

  The relief in Marc's voice was clear and Aldric agreed with it. Faith leaned her shoulder against his, soothing and warm. Aldric wasn't sure why Leo and his father had dropped by, but he was very glad they had, just for that certainty.

  "Well, that's one less possibility for me to pursue then. So, let's see if I've got everything straight," Detective Lincoln pushed his empty plate back and picked up his coffee. Faith was right, the man did look exhausted. "A bunch of werewolves show up to kidnap Kaylee because one of 'em thinks he's her absentee father and he wants a bargaining chip with his alpha, so he takes Miss Latham's sister as a hostage. Then some mystery vampires show up and take the sister when you go to rescue her– without calling the police and informing them of any of this, I might add. Then the wolves start attacking you all and are now working with the vampires?"

  "That does seem to have summed up the big picture, yes," Marc said. He got up to grab the coffee pot and bring it back to the table for refills. "I just hope we can stop the Goldfangs before they start using innocents as collateral damage against us."

  "You paranormal assholes brought murder and violence here, and you think you have the right to talk about innocents?" Lincoln sneered.

  "You say that as if you didn't save the children this morning with a spell," Aldric said. Finding out that a pack war was ongoing in his jurisdiction was enough to make any detective grumpy, but Aldric was not willing to let the man throw stones when he himself lived in a glass house. "You are a mage, Detective Lincoln. You are as much a paranormal as the rest of us."

  6

  Faith could hear the undertones in the conversation. She didn't think anyone was trying to be subtle, particularly, just not outright rude. Well, she glanced at Detective Lincoln and thought mostly not being outright rude. She put a hand on Aldric's arm and glanced over at Marc, who sat there staring into his coffee. He seemed almost as tired as the detective.

  "So, tell us about yourself, a bit. There's no reason we shouldn't work together to keep everyone safe," she said.

  Detective Lincoln blinked at her, his scowl softening some. "Not much to tell. I'm a police detective with the sheriff's office."

  When it became clear that was all he would say, Marc turned his stare back to the man. "It is a wise thing to keep your talents secret, even more for you than it is for us. But you have already revealed them, Detective. We aren't the sort to exploit you or your skills, but knowing who your allies are– and I assure you that at the very least we are not your enemies– is a two-way street."

  "It's not like we don't already know," Faith pointed out. "I'll go first if it will make you more comfortable. I was raised to never talk about this stuff with anyone outside my family, so I get how tough it is."

  Faith took a sip of her coffee and let the bitterness roll around her mouth for a moment before she kept going. Aldric's hand on her shoulder provided comfort and strength, and she sent him a small smile. She looked back at Detective Lincoln, he was scowling.

  "When I was young, my mother started teaching me about our family and the skills I was just starting to show signs of. She made sure I knew not to use my magic anywhere that anyone could see, and she warned me that it would be very dangerous, but she never told me why. When I was nine and my sister was twelve, our parents were killed in a car accident and we went to live with our aunt in Los Angeles.” Faith paused as the familiar pinch of grief hit. It wasn’t so bad now that the memories were more distant, but she still missed her parents.

  “Aunt Lucy was Dad's sister, and she didn't know about our magic, and we had been warned so strongly against revealing it to anyone that we didn't tell her, so that was pretty much the end of our lessons. When Crissy turned twenty, she got access to the storage unit of all the things Lucy put away for us. It was mostly special furniture and important documents like their wedding license. Stuff like that. But one of the things was our grandfather's journal, and from that we learned that he and his siblings had been sent to a family friend's ranch to grow up, and he never heard from his parents again. That was at the beginning of World War Two."

  Faith took another sip of her coffee and Aldric squeezed her shoulder. Detective Lincoln grunted.

  "Yeah. Aldric told me about why they were probably sent away, and what likely happened. I know that Crissy tried to track our great-grandparents down, but without their names or anything, she didn't have much luck. I asked Leo if he could dig anything up, though, so maybe we'll know more soon."

  "I'm sure that he's already working on it, around the rest of this mess," Aldric said.

  "I'm sorry all this nonsense is getting in the way, but..." Marc agreed.

  "No," Faith waved them off. "I'd rather he stays focused on figuring out who's attacking us. My great-grandparents are long dead. They can wait."

  Detective Lincoln grunted again. "So, what you're telling me is that you're barely trained."

  Faith shrugged. "It's not like I can go to the library and check out a copy of 'So Your Family Died, Here's What You Need to Know About Your Magic' now can I? I've been figuring it out a bit on my own, now that it's actually coming in useful. I hadn't used my shield since I was a kid, and now I've needed it more often than I want to think about."

  "I'm glad it was still familiar enough for you to call on it instinctively," Aldric said softly. "Otherwise..."

  Faith caught his hand and brought it down to hold on the table and smiled at him. "Me too."

  A shriek from the den startled the group, and Marc surged to his feet. "That sounds like maybe Jake shifted back. I'm going to have to go talk to him. On the one hand I'm proud that he was so determined to protect his friend that he pulled on all his power, but he shouldn't have shifted for another few years. Early shifts like this can be a mess. Aldric, could you take care of anything that crops up while I'm dealing with this?"

  "Of course," Aldric nodded.

  "I'll talk to Kaylee about the possibility of her shifting as well. She does scent faintly of wolf, but that might just be due to her parentage, not her ability," Marc said.

  Faith watched him leave the room, the turned back to Lincoln, who was scowling, but trying to hide it by staring at his coffee cup on the table.

  "Aldric, maybe Tamika and the Enforcers could use some help?" She raised an eyebrow at him and he flicked a glance at the surly detective, then nodded.

  "No doubt. And I should call Madeline to see if she needs any additional resources at the clinic. Between the ambush last night and this attack, she is likely in need of extra hands." Aldric pressed a brief kiss to her temple. "Call if you need anything. I won't be far."

  "Thanks," she said. The casual affection he showed her made her feel warm and safe, even though she knew it was also a bit of a statement to the detective. Aldric wasn't exactly possessive, certainly not like the romance novels would suggest a paranormal would be, but she knew a claim when she saw one.

  The back door closed behind him and she turned her attention back to the man frowning at his half empty cup.

  "Okay, Detective. It's just us now," she said. "What is it?"

  He shifted his frown
up to her then glanced around the kitchen. She wondered what he saw, since his frown didn't waver.

  A honey-brown wide plank wood floor set the warm tone for the room, and the white cabinets and glass-front cupboards kept the room feeling airy. Tall ceilings, crossed by more golden-brown beams, and the large windows that looked out on the backyard meadow added to the feeling of space. The table they still sat at was a dark brown, but the legs had been painted a bright sky blue, and the mismatched chairs were all different styles and colors, adding to the feeling of long use and family.

  It was a warm, comfortable room and Faith was really very fond of it. Marc could often be found bustling around, preparing some sort of enormous meal, ready to feed not only those of them that lived there but anyone in his pack who dropped by.

  "I didn't expect this place to be so cozy inside," he finally said. “I’ve only been inside the once before, just the other day. I didn’t really look around much.”

  "I like it. It's clear that the whole place is meant to feel inviting. It really is a family home, just for a really big family," Faith agreed. "I think it sort of matches the fairy-tale outside, too. What were you expecting?"

  He shrugged. "I've never known an animal to keep their den this tidy. Or hire interior decorators."

  Faith gritted her teeth and tried not to let the insult get to her. "They're just people, like anyone else."

  He scowled at her and raised his eyebrow.

  "Okay, they're people with special skills and abilities, but then so are we," she said. "What is your problem with them? You helped us fight off an attack, we invited you into our home to share a meal. Why are you so hostile?"

  "They're not human," he growled. It sounded like he was forcing the words out instead of just snarling or screaming. "Things like that only want to trap us and use us. That bloodsucker is leading you on, Miss Latham. He's just getting your trust so you'll let your guard down and then he'll drink you dry."

  "And then he'll..." Faith took a moment to sort through both the statement and the expression on the man's face. On the surface it seemed to be his usual glowering expression, the face he wore when his Kindly, Helpful Detective persona wasn't getting him what he needed. But Faith actually looked now, and she saw the nerves, the fear, underneath the bluster.