Alterations

by Lucretia Stanhope

  His eyes stayed closed, his breaths still came in deep, heavy puffs through his nostrils.

  “Please.” She continued to caress his face.

  His eyes opened, calm returned to them. “Very well my love, we will compromise. You can stay here, play detective. You are not to ever be without myself, Matvei or Sergei.”

  She nodded and started to say something, but he put a finger over her lips.

  “I am not finished. When we find the witch responsible, there will be no trials, no mercy. I will deal with them myself. There will be no doubt in the minds of these council witches what happens when my family is threatened. Tonight you will come home with me. I will assess this further.”

  Gwen shuddered at the images that flashed across her mind. “But I want to talk with Kenneth.”

  “No, we are going.”

  Her eyes narrowed. He talked her full circle into agreeing with him, when he made it sound as if he agreed with her. “You said I could stay if you were here.”

  “I did. I am leaving. With you.”

  She backed away from him, while trying to decide how far to press. She played over what Kenneth would be doing tonight. Cataloging the scene, taking samples, talking to people. She could always catch up tomorrow night. With the flurry of people and the soldier there now, nothing else would happen, she reasoned.

  The patience started to fade from his features. He held out a hand, his eyes wide with expectation.

  She took his hand and they walked out of the room.

  He slammed the door behind him. He paused a minute in the hall and then they started toward the exit. Outside, they found his soldier, Kenneth, and Mikhail engaged in conversation.

  “Unless you have news I am taking Gwen home,” Timofei said, his voice and presence still barbed with agitation.

  Mikhail's eyes flashed to her and then back to Timofei. “I will report anything we find.”

  “Do that.” Timofei walked away with Gwen at his side, under his arm.

  When they arrived on their realm, Matvei stood near the tear and walked over to greet them.

  “Where are the kids?” Gwen asked.

  “Hello to you too, Gwen. They are both safe. What's the urgency?” Matvei turned his attention to Timofei.

  “I'm going to handle that. Stay here with Gwen and the kids until I return.” He kissed Gwen on the head and left.

  Gwen turned toward the tear and let out a string of curse words as she took a step toward it. She felt Matvei wrap his fingers around her arm and clamp down.

  “Let me go, Matvei.” She tugged away with no effect. “Let me go. He said I could be there with him.”

  “While this might typically be amusing, you smell of death and demons. What is going on?”

  “Death and demons, that is what is going on. Death, demons, and I'm apparently to be sheltered here while the monsters sort it out.”

  Matvei sucked his tongue against his teeth. “Brac is worried after the way father and Mikhail left earlier. Come home.”

  “It's maddening. This is about me. I should be there,” she said, and cursed again. “I won't play a silent walk on in my own life.” She yanked again and her arm came free. “Put me in a box, I swear,” she muttered as she started to walk away.

  “I haven't seen you so feisty in, well, it's been years. I love the smell of anger on you. It mixes with your roses in a most alluring way.” He took a few long strides to catch up.

  “I'm in no mood for your games tonight Matvei. Understand me?”

  He laughed. “That is usually when you are the most fun.”

  Chapter Two

  “M om, are you okay?” Brac took a few steps to meet Gwen at the door of the sitting room.

  She allowed him to bury her in his strong arms and wrap her in a magical embrace. At the same time, she let her aura wash over him. “I'm fine. Shaken by what I saw and angry about, never mind, sweetheart. How are you?” She pulled back and put both hands on his face, looking into his dark, soulful eyes. “I've missed you.”

  He kissed her forehead. “I always miss you.” They walked over to the couch to sit down. “Mikhail sounded dodgier than usual.”

  She rehashed the awful night again but decided to leave out the goriest parts, even though Brac often spun tales of adventures with Matvei that included gruesome ends, middles, and beginnings as well.

  “You didn't tell me, how you are, sweetheart? You've been gone for days.” She shifted in her seat.

  “Restless energy? See where I get it from? Let's go for a walk.” He took her hand and looked at her with sad eyes. “I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me.”

  She squeezed his hand. “No one expects you at council even if you are here. I never thought something like that would happen there.”

  “Timofei will find out who summoned them, and when he is done, they will wish the demon got loose and took them back to the between in pieces.”

  “Brac,” she said, her tone tried to reflect shock but it didn't. Brac looked up to both Timofei and Matvei, she knew that. “Have you and Matvei found anything in the new realm?”

  “We got sidetracked at Odeen, then he needed to come here to talk to dad.”

  They rounded a corner and started toward the derelict part of the fortress. She discovered very early after they moved in that when either of them felt restless, a walk down the vacant halls helped. They both found the emptiness they felt inside stayed in the shadows, with the dust and cobwebs, leaving them more peaceful.

  The sound of his boots as they crunched the leaves soothed her, and the images of the body started to fade. She leaned her head on his chest, not able to reach his shoulder, since he stood a foot taller than her now at six foot four.

  “I wish you wouldn't go to Odeen, it's, dangerous.”

  He laughed a laugh filled with a familiar arrogance. When it came from Matvei it grated on her. She ignored it from Brac.

  “I'm always with Matvei. You worry too much. Besides, if you ever went there, you would see it isn't all that bad. You're mad at dad for sending you home?” He made an attempt to change the subject before she put any limits on his explorations.

  “Not mad, frustrated. I know he means well. I keep trying to figure out why someone would want to hurt, no, kill me. That demon was sent to my office to kill.”

  The scent of fresh blooming jasmine filled the hall as a breeze blew through the broken windows, rustling the leaves.

  “After all you have done for those witches. It makes me angry. We will stay here until we find out. I promise. Nothing will hurt you.” He squeezed her closer. “I love you.”

  “I love you, Brac, always.” She looked at her grown son, feeling a mix of pride and fear. He had Matvei's bravado but a human body that couldn't always back it. “Maryanne asked about you.” She asked about his fiancée, wanting to steer him away from any ideas of demon hunting. Even at twenty, nothing could change her view of him as her baby who needed her to protect him.

  “Yeah, I'll see her at some point.” They stopped walking and he scuffed his boots on the concrete floor. “I kind of want to see someone else before we settle down.”

  “Brac, you can't keep doing that, at your rate you will have dated every witch on realm soon. That’s not fair to her.” Gwen said and frowned. “I wish you would find happiness.”

  “I'm happy. I'm always happy. I’m settled, I am getting married soon.” He grinned. “Really. I'd rather be exploring than stuck here.”

  “You don't have to sit in the house with me. Go see Maryanne. Maybe if you spend some time with her, you will realize you should be home with her.” She shook her head.

  He tugged her to him. “Nah, that usually has the opposite effect. You, and Kyna to a lesser degree, are the only women who don't make me nuts.”

  She puffed a breath through pursed lips. “Nuts? That will change, you are still young.”

  He smirked. “Not likely, unless suddenly they become rational beings.”

  They walked back tow
ard the house to find Kyna and Matvei. Gwen enjoyed the gentle feeling of his magic against hers. In spite of Timofei sending the kids to all of the teachers, often, both of them only developed a strong mastery of one element.

  K yna put the chalk down as she felt Matvei walk in the room. She turned and wiped the dust on her baggy jeans. He eyed her, as he always did, with a look of contempt that made her feel offensive. “What do you want?” she asked.

  He stepped closer and looked at the problem on the chalkboard. “Your flanks are too exposed,” he said in a flat tone. “As long as you have been playing these war puzzles with father, you should really be better at them by now.”

  “I didn't ask your advice.” Her eyes looked at the numbers in her flanks and she sighed. He was right. “Are mom and Brac back yet?”

  “Almost.” He walked over to the chalkboard, looked it over a few seconds, and his eyes darted back to her. “You can’t win that way. Did you want the solution?”

  “No. I will figure it out. There is a reason he asks my advice, you know. I don't jump to conclusions.”

  He laughed. “There is nothing wrong with jumping to conclusions, if you are right. I believe in your pretentious world I would be called perspicacious.”

  “No need to look further than the common word narcissist. That way even you will understand the insult.”

  “Tsk tsk, you didn't even try. Never fails to amaze me, with all of your assets, you can still be so dull.” He pulled one of her red curls from her loose ponytail and twirled it, before he turned to the board and wrote down the solution. “Feel free to check my work, sweetheart.”

  He walked out and left her to count to ten as she tried not to respond.

  Gwen and Brac walked in. Gwen turned to watch Matvei walk out. Brac frowned at Kyna and left to follow Matvei.

  “He always gets under my skin,” Kyna said, tucked her hair up, and then walked to Gwen. They shared a brief hug before Kyna turned back to the puzzle. “There was some trouble at council?”

  Gwen told her about what happened. She made her version even milder than the one she told Brac. “I expect Timofei will know more when he gets back.”

  “I'm sure he will. I'm sorry you had to see that, mom.”

  Gwen watched Kyna as she traced her fingers over something on the chalkboard. “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, no, mom can you talk to dad about me staying at the earth magic school? If he wants me to be the main teacher, it makes sense.” Kyna turned to her and smiled. She only smiled at Gwen when she wanted something.

  “You know how he feels about that.”

  “It is on realm. Don't you see how unreasonable he is? The other teachers here live at school. There are more than enough rooms. More than enough witches, and even a few monster guards.” Kyna breathed out in a huff. “I have friends there. He won't listen to me. He does anything for you.”

  “I'll mention it, if he is in a better mood. We sort of had a moment.”

  “A moment?”

  “It'll pass. He's been grumpy since those creatures started to breach Odeen again.”

  “Do you think they really worry him? They breach every few years and haven't been hard to push back yet. Savages. They can't mount a real attack.” Kyna erased the board and started to write out a new problem from her notes.

  “They don't worry him, they annoy him.” Gwen walked over to stand beside Kyna who only stood a few inches taller than her. “Did your new group of growers show promise?” She wanted to change the topic to something happier than breaches and demons.

  Kyna filled her in on her new students before she left. She told her she needed to sort things for her classes the next day. While Gwen assumed she did, she knew the most likely reason Kyna wanted out of the house was Matvei and Brac.

  While Gwen walked the empty halls, she let her aura spread out, but didn't feel Brac anywhere. She guessed he already headed out to see his new girlfriend and frowned at the thought. She assumed the combination of his adventurous nature and dramatic features gave him a choice of witches. He would settle down. Soon, she hoped.

  She walked outside and ended up at the lake. Her finger ran over the cold iron bars that separated them from the monster. Here, after she freed her children of their family curse, she started a new family curse. She traded one monster for another.

  She didn't think about him as a monster often. Her thoughts would never be her own again, but while he was off realm she could let her mind wander. She could think about forever and what that meant for real. Was there really a forever for her? A demon could have ended her forever that night.

  “You are not so fragile, Gwen,” Matvei said. The chill of his presence felt colder than the iron against her finger.

  “Stay out of my thoughts.” She kept her eyes on the way the black water seemed to dance with the light from the moon as it tried to penetrate it. Could light really penetrate darkness?

  “No, it can't. You are so fascinating. Why would I stay out of your thoughts?”

  “I told you I wasn't in the mood for this tonight.”

  “No, and your sadness told me you needed it.”

  “Needed to be harassed?”

  “Sure, it makes you, not sad.”

  She closed her eyes for a long moment. “Twenty years, Matvei. We have been doing this for twenty years. How long until you accept I am here now. Forever. You can be as cruel as you want, but I am not leaving. I have no choice in that matter.”

  He put his hand on hers on the fence and leaned his head down to her neck. “I would be sad if you did leave.”

  She pushed her elbow back into him. “Stop. I am his, not yours.”

  “His, mine, it's all the same.”

  “No, no it is not. I am not just a thing you will inherit.”

  “You are not just any old thing. You are a very special thing. I was told to watch you. I want to make sure you are safe. There are monsters in this lake, you know. Dark things. Things that bite.”

  She stepped away from the fence and started toward the house. “I'm hungry.”

  “You're hungry. Not for cake. Did you want to go see what is happening at council?” He arched an eyebrow.

  “That would make matters worse.”

  “You are no fun anymore, Gwen. You used to challenge him from time to time.”

  She chewed her top lip, but gave no response before she turned and started down the sidewalk toward the exit.

  “Are we going for a stroll?”

  “I really would like to be alone,” she said. “Please, can't you go bother someone else?”

  “I was asked to keep an eye on you.” He stepped beside her and draped an arm over her shoulder. “Let's try something else. What have you done to get demons summoned?”

  She sighed, seldom did it do any good to push with Matvei. Like his father, he just kept on with whatever he wanted to do. “I don't know. I really don't.”

  “No new rules, no new hearings, new arrivals?”

  She stopped once the woods surrounded them and kneaded her forehead. “There are rules, hearings, and new arrivals constantly.”

  “Do witches from here still travel to that realm for any reason?”

  “No, not anymore.”

  “Why not, is that new?”

  “Not really, it's been that way several years now, why?”

  “They had family, if they still chat, could be some change here that triggered it.”

  She picked at the bark on a tree. “No, the tear here is always guarded. Always.”

  He leaned back against a tree and put one foot on it, in a relaxed posture. “I hear you stopped testing. Sad to see you giving up, Gwen.”

  “I didn't realize my every move was being reported to you.” She watched as he gave her a full dimpled smirk.

  “You do fascinate. Did fascinate. Domestication is not quite the intoxicating perfume on you that curiosity is.”

  “Does Timofei always have me watched?”

  He laughed a deep laugh. “If I
say no would you be up for something more fun?”

  “Not with you.”

  “Shame that. I could show you all the things that roll around in the back of your mind. Which by the way, you should tidy up. Your thoughts are riddled with questions that might be upsetting to some, less tolerant, monsters.” He rubbed a hand down the fabric on his thigh and straightened a wrinkle in his pants.

  “We've already talked about those things. Stay out of my head.”

  “I'm in there, even when I'm not.” He winked and reached out a hand. “Let me have a sip?”

  “No, stop it.”

  “I could take it.”

  She closed her eyes and fought against the urge to snap on him. The dream of freedom he dangled over her head smelled sweeter than usual. She forgave a lot, because it allowed her to hang on to the far-off dream of her children and grandchildren living free.

  She felt a pinch on her wrist and opened her eyes to see nothing. When she brought her gaze back up to Matvei, a smile ignited that claimed more than his mouth. “If you are going to do that, the least you could do is make sure I don't know.”

  “You stay in the dark about so much. I would think you could appreciate the gesture of honesty.”

  “Your gestures are for your own amusement.”

  “Maybe. What are we doing here, Gwen? You want to be at council. You should be at council. Some witch insulted you personally.” He took his foot down and stepped toward her.

  She watched him, the peace in his eyes matched that of Timofei's when he fed from her. It was the best time to get them to do things. She noticed their airtight reasoning momentarily gone, in what she came to think of as a blood drunkenness.

  “What things would you show me?” Each time they did this he made a fresh offer and new demands.

  A sparkle returned to his eyes and he made a soft moan. “I could show you everything. How to tear the veil. I know that plays heavy on your mind. How to feel again.” He stepped closer while he spoke. “How to keep all of your treacherous thoughts safe.”

  She swallowed. “I, you could, I don't want to know those things.” She took a few steps back. He renewed her hope every few years, and while the temptation enabled her to justify why she kept all of his secrets, she always came back to the same thought. This was Timofei's son, and even though she tried to, she still couldn't trust he would teach her any of that without telling Timofei.