by Kelly Oram
“She’s already what?” Constance asked astonished.
“It wasn’t magic,” I said.
“Of course it was,” Robert argued. The scowl had returned to his face. I wasn’t sure if he thought everyone was an idiot, or just me.
“No,” Russ agreed. “It wasn’t magic.”
“So she’s a shape shifter?”
“No,” Russ said again. “I’m not sure what happened but she didn’t shape shift. She had animal instincts. Shape shifting doesn’t turn someone into a natural killer. That guy was second in command of his pack. He was a trained fighter. Then after she killed him she started healing on her own. Just like a werewolf. Transformation magic gives you the form of something. It doesn’t give you all its power. I could feel that her magic was gone. I think she literally became a werewolf.”
It was clear that no one believed Russ. Finally Duncan spoke up. “Well she’s definitely not a werewolf now. Trust me, I’m a vampire. I’d know if she were a mutt. So what changed? How come she stopped healing?”
“I don’t know,” Russ said. “One minute she was a werewolf—she felt different to me, smelled different, she had no magic—then the next minute it was just like before. The animal was gone and her magic was back. She was just like me again.”
“It happened when he touched me,” I said. “I felt the change when the werewolf grabbed me. One minute I was a warlock and the next I was a wolf. It happened again afterward when Russ touched me. I was an animal and then suddenly I was a warlock again.”
Robert and Constance exchanged a glance. “The Supreme High Councilor will know what to do,” Constance said.
“Surely there will be others besides the werewolf.” Duncan waved his hand as if to say, “Let’s get moving.”
Robert looked at me with yet another frown. “Come Danielle. We must go quickly.”
“Go where?”
“To the consulate, of course.”
“Damn it!” Russ hollered. He grabbed on to me tightly again. “I knew it!”
Russ seemed pretty convinced that I was never coming back and I began to panic. “Wait a minute,” I said. “Where is this place?”
“Manhattan.”
“New York?” My stomach lurched. “I can’t go all the way to New York.”
“I’m afraid you must,” Constance said.
“What will I tell my parents? They’re not going to let me leave with a bunch of strangers. And how long will I be gone? I have school tomorrow. All the supernatural powers in the world do not help my understanding of geometry. If I miss more than a day or two I’ll be screwed.”
“You have more important things to worry about right now than school,” Duncan said.
I looked around the room. Constance, Robert, and Duncan were mentally half way to New York already. Alex didn’t look happy about it, but he wasn’t going to stop anyone either. Only Russ seemed to be on my side, though he clearly blamed me for this. I steeled myself and faced Constance. “My parents aren’t going to let me go.”
Russ let out another groan. “They aren’t going to tell your parents, dummy.”
I looked at Alex and his face was grim.
“So you are kidnapping me?” I asked Robert.
It was Constance who answered me. “We simply can’t tell your parents. Humans cannot know anything of the supernatural world for their own safety. If you stay here you will be putting their lives at risk as much as your own.”
“We can keep you safe Dani,” Russ said. “Dad and I won’t let anything happen to you or your parents.”
“Don’t be foolish boy,” Robert barked. “This is not up for discussion. The girl is coming with us.”
“No!” I screamed. “You can’t make me! I’m not going anywhere!”
Duncan stepped in front of Robert and Constance then, wearing a grave expression. When he reached out to grab me I closed my eyes and pictured him glued to the floor. I pictured them all stuck.
I heard their gasps before I opened my eyes. “No one is taking me anywhere,” I warned them. “If you try it, you’ll join that werewolf in the afterlife.”
Russ snickered and squeezed me tight. “I was wrong,” he told me. “You’re not supernatural awesomeness. You’re a supernatural badass.”
Robert shouted angry threats at me and when I didn’t listen he turned his rage on Alex, blaming him for my actions. The guy was a total waste of space, but Duncan wasn’t quite as idiotic. He remained completely calm and said, “The werewolf was just the first of many who will come for you. Some will want to kidnap you. Others will simply want to kill you. All of them will go through your family and friends to get to you. You’re strong, but you can’t protect everyone you love at all times. Someone will eventually be hurt. Is that what you want?”
Russ looked like he was ready to murder Duncan, but the vampire’s words had struck a chord in my heart. I hadn’t exactly forgotten that wolf charging Russ. Then there were my poor, sweet, innocent parents. They would never be the one in a thousand Russ was talking about. If they ever accidently learned of any of this they would be devastated. Plus, they’re so, I don’t know, helpless I guess. I couldn’t stand the thought of some freak werewolf coming after them just to get to me.
“How long would I have to stay there?” I asked.
Russ tensed but didn’t say anything.
Constance smiled. “Just until we know what you are and how to keep you safe,” she said. Nice and vague I noticed. “Until we know who out there is trying to get to you and why.”
I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t put my parents in danger. I sighed my defeat and let everyone go.
“Dani,” Russ whispered in a tight voice. “Don’t.”
“I have to, Russ. My parents.”
“Fine. Then Dad and I will come with you.”
Alex’s face turned hopeful, but with just a look it became obvious that they would never allow it. He tried anyway. “Surely Dani would be more comfortable, perhaps more willing to cooperate, if she didn’t have to go alone.”
“Alexander, you are well aware that that is out of the question,” Robert said.
“Not me if that’s what the problem is. Just send the boy.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why?” Russ demanded. Everybody ignored him.
Alex sighed. He’d given up.
“Come, Danielle,” Robert said impatiently.
“But—”
When I hesitated, Robert nodded to Duncan, who then held out his hand to me. I looked back at Russ and felt Duncan’s hand come down on my shoulder.
“Dad, do something!” Russ said when Duncan gave me a slight tug toward the door. “We’re never going to see her again!”
Russ’s pleas for help did nothing. Alex was already resigned. “Calm down Russ. Of course you’ll see each other again.”
“Are you sure?” I asked Alex.
“Of course,” he said, but he didn’t look too sure.
A new sense of dread washed over me. “Promise me, Alex. Promise me!”
Alex looked pained but he smiled. “I promise. We’ll come visit, and I’m sure they’ll let you call us when you get there.”
Robert narrowed his eyes but Constance smiled. “Of course.”
Russ finally gave up his fight and Alex clasped his shoulder. Whether as a supportive gesture or a physical restraint I couldn’t tell. “It’s probably better for her right now anyway,” he said to Russ. “Her cravings are going to be awful for months. To be around as many powerful people as the council? She’ll barely feel it.”
I was in shock. This was happening and I couldn’t avoid it. The most I could hope for was that they would figure out everything quickly and I could come home soon. “I just need to shower and pack a bag.”
“I’m sorry, we have to leave now,” Robert said.
“But—”
“We’ll provide you with everything you need,” Constance added.
“I don’t get to go home first? I don’t ev
en get to say goodbye to my parents?”
“You are very important, Danielle,” Duncan told me. “We can’t risk anything happening to you. In fact we should be gone already.”
I ripped my shoulder out of Duncan’s grasp. “I’m not leaving without seeing my parents!”
“It’s for their safety as much as yours,” Constance said.
I was trying to be strong, but the thought of not being able to tell my parents I was leaving made my eyes burn. What would they think when I didn’t come home? They’d be worried sick. I ran at Alex and threw myself into his arms. “Tell them something,” I said. “You know how they are. They won’t understand. Help them. Take care of them.”
Alex squeezed me like I was his own daughter. “Don’t worry about your parents. I’ll protect them with my life Dani. I promise.”
I told myself I wouldn’t cry for Russ. It would only make it harder for us both. I fell against him and he pulled me into a hug so tight I couldn’t breathe. He’s so much taller than me that my feet left the ground. For a minute I just rested against him. When he set me back down he wiped the single tear that had escaped my eye. “You won’t be gone long,” he said fiercely. But if he really believed that, why did he look like he was determined to prove a point? “Call me when you get there and tell me all about it.”
“I’ll miss you,” I said.
Russ tried to smirk. “Get into trouble for me.”
“Stay out of trouble for me.”
This was the moment where we were supposed to say goodbye but neither of us could do it.
“I’m sorry, Danielle. We need to go now.”
It was Duncan. He’d placed a hand lightly on my shoulder again and his voice resonated with genuine sympathy. I hated him a little less right then.
I gave Russ one last look and he suddenly kissed me as if his life depended on it. It was the strangest kiss. Besides being my first kiss, it was so surprising that I couldn’t even kiss him back right away. Then my body turned to fire and I attacked him with force. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the craving, or if it was the intensity of the moment, or if maybe it was something that had always been there, tucked away just below the surface.
I’d always loved Russ. I’d wondered every now and then if we’d ever be more than friends but I’d never felt the need. I would have been content had we never crossed that line. Now, as I finally got a taste of what romance with Russ could be like, I wondered how I’d ever lived without it. Letting him go and ending this kiss was going to kill me. It was so perfect that I wondered, on the off chance I didn’t come back any time soon, if I’d look back on this moment and be grateful or if it would haunt me.
“I love you,” Russ whispered when we finally broke apart.
“I love you too. Always. I promise.”
“No, Dani, I mean I love you.”
I knew that’s what he meant the first time, but my eyes still widened and my stomach twisted in on itself. He wanted me to say it too, and I meant to, but when I opened my mouth what came out was, “I’ll call you when I get there.”
Duncan had the decency to ask for a blanket before shuffling me out the door since I was still wearing nothing but Russ’s t-shirt. Russ came back with a small quilt off his bed. It was one we’d made together in home-ec the previous semester. He’d hated every minute of that class, but we’d done a good job on the quilt and Russ was secretly proud of it even if he’d never admit it.
We fought about who got to keep the quilt and finally came up with a joint custody plan, but I knew how much he liked it so I never came to claim it when it was my turn. I knew he was giving it to me now as a piece of him to take with me. I pulled the blanket around me and didn’t plan on ever letting it out of my fingers.
After that I was stuffed into the back of a limo. I’d never ridden in a limo, but I wasn’t exactly in the mood to ogle. I was the first one in the car and Duncan followed behind me. He started to sit by me but took one look at the scowl on my face and sat across the car from me instead. As it turns out I should have let him sit next to me, because Robert and Constance didn’t seem to care that I wanted to be left alone. The jerks sat down on either side of me.
“You don’t need to worry,” Constance said. “We’ll get everything sorted out. You’ll be able to see your family again soon enough.”
If she was waiting for me to show some gratitude or relief, she was delusional.
When I ignored her, Robert cleared his throat. “I think you’re going to like the consulate, Danielle. You’ve been raised in a world you don’t belong to for so long. I think you’ll find it a relief to be around your own kind.”
I hated Robert. Mr. Know-It-All seemed all smiles now that he’d successfully taken me away from my home. Did he really think I’d be happier with a bunch of stupid strangers who’d more or less kidnapped me than my own parents who raised me and loved me? And Russ and Alex who loved me too, and knew me better than anyone in the whole world? How dare he say I didn’t belong there? It was my home!
Ignoring him too, I got up and moved across the limo to sit next to Duncan. Duncan gave me a sideways glance, but didn’t say anything. He leaned back and closed his eyes as if he planned on sleeping the whole drive.
Robert looked really annoyed that I’d insulted him, but he seemed determined to act friendly. “It’s an honor to be invited to the consulate,” he told me. “Not many people get the opportunity to meet the Supreme High Councilor, and he is very excited to get to know you. Truly you are a very special girl.”
Just as I was thinking I’d throw myself out the door of the speeding car if I had to listen to him go on like that all the way to New York, I felt the tiniest nudge. I looked down and Duncan had slipped an MP3 player onto the seat between us. I looked up in surprise, but Duncan appeared to be asleep.
I stuck the headphones in my ears, found something I liked, and then turned the volume up as loud as I could stand it. Glancing back up at Duncan, I found him watching me. He gave me the tiniest wink and then went back to his nap.
Four hours later I was the one sleeping and Duncan shook me awake. “Pit stop,” he informed me after I took the headphones out of my ears.
The two of us were the only ones left in the limo. I sighed a little breath of relief and then handed the MP3 player back to him. “Thank you for this.”
“Hang on to it,” he told me. “We still have another two and a half hours of driving, and if you think Robert will stop bugging you, you’re dreaming.”
I pulled the MP3 player back into my lap. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.
Duncan answered, “I remember what it’s like.”
“You mean the council took you too?”
“Not the council. I’m an anomaly like you. A daywalker. When people realized the truth about me there were three main covens in the city where I was from and they all wanted me. I became a pawn in their struggle for power. Eventually they started a war over it.” Duncan shrugged like it was no big deal. “It was the council who stepped in and stopped the fighting. They gave me a choice to go off on my own as a nomad or join the guard. I didn’t want to be alone, so I stayed. They gave me a home. I’ve been very happy serving them.”
Duncan laughed at my shocked expression. “I know how you must feel right now, but the council’s not so bad. Robert may be clueless to the feelings of others, but he really does want what’s best for you. He usually stays at the consulate, but he insisted on coming for you himself. He didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
I tried to contain my anger. No need to lash out at the only friend I seemed to have at the moment. “That’s not because he cares for my safety,” I said. “He just doesn’t want to lose my precious power—whatever that is.”
Duncan regarded me with a thoughtful expression, as if he were trying to decide whether to defend Robert or agree with me. Finally he said, “Do you know of the prophecy? Did Alexander tell you anything about it?”
“No,” I admitted w
arily. I didn’t like this subject. I didn’t like the idea that everyone believed I had some predetermined destiny that was worth the kidnapping and/or killing of me. “The first I heard of it was when the werewolf mentioned it. He said something about a seer too, but no one’s bothered to explain what that means.”
“Well,” Duncan said. “How familiar are you with the Hundred Years’ War?”
“Not very. Mid fourteenth century to mid fifteenth century. It was a dispute between England and France over the rule of France, right?”
“Yes. Mostly. It was about who had proper claim to France, but it wasn’t between England and France, and it wasn’t really about the throne. It was between two different dynasties. The House of Valois, and the House of Plantagenet.
“The trouble started with the death of King Charles IV. He died without ever producing any male heirs so the throne went to the next closest descendants—the House of Valois. That part of the story history tells. What history fails to mention is that the family of Valois was an extremely powerful line of warlocks.”
“And people knew this?”
Duncan smiled. “Back then, supernaturals and humans coexisted peacefully. They respected and helped one another, but the Plantagenets didn’t like the idea of such powerful people being in control of France, so they waged war. Eventually it became humans against supernaturals.”
“But wasn’t it the House of Valois who eventually won the war?” I asked. “Didn’t they rule France for a long time?”
“That’s right,” Duncan said proudly. “Not bad for a girl raised by humans.”
I ignored the insult to my parents and simply said, “Straight A’s. Drives Russ crazy.”
“Boyfriend’s not too bright eh?”
“No. The opposite. He’s really smart. It drives him crazy that I’m just as smart as he is. He likes to think he’s the best at everything.”
Duncan snorted a laugh. “The intelligence is a supernatural thing. The God Complex is a warlock thing.”
“And Russ isn’t my boyfriend.”
Duncan raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to argue. “So anyway. The Hundred Years’ War. Yes, the House of Valois eventually won the war, thanks mostly to a woman you know as Joan of Arc.”
