More Than This

by Alexa Land

  “Everyone here is a vampire, including you?” Now it was his turn to nod, and I asked, “Was that a choice you made?”

  “I would have agreed to be changed for my husband Nikolai’s sake, but he was dead set against it. Then a few years ago, I died in a home invasion, so Nicky turned me to save my life.” I stared at Nate for a long moment. Everything about him just seemed so…normal. He grinned and asked, “Were you expecting black capes and coffins and all that?”

  “No, not necessarily.” Okay, kind of. “I was expecting fangs, though.”

  “That part of the vampire lore is actually true, we do have fangs. A lot of vampires choose to file them down, because it’s important to blend in with everyone else. Since August can work magic, he cast a concealment spell on those of us who decided to keep them, so they’re hidden.”

  I said, “It’s important to blend in so you can get close to humans and feed on them?”

  “It’s important because people hunt and kill vampires. We can get close to humans easily by compelling them, so the fangs are hidden for our protection, not because we need to deceive our prey.”

  “Compelling means getting humans to do whatever you want by the power of suggestion, right? Or are the vampire movies not to be believed?”

  “That’s right, though in general, take what you see in the movies with a healthy dose of skepticism.”

  As we started walking through the house, I said, “Thanks for the crash course in Vampires 101.”

  “I’m glad you asked, instead of making assumptions.”

  The home’s interior matched the outside, with its arched doorways, terra cotta tile floors, and other charming, Spanish-style details. When we reached a spacious living room with high ceilings, a painted tile fireplace, and comfortable-looking furnishings, a tall, absolutely gorgeous man with dark hair put aside an antique, leather-bound book and stood up. Nate said, “Griffin, I’d like you to meet my husband, Nikolai.”

  We shook hands and exchanged greetings, and then Nate gestured at the two sets of glass patio doors at the back of the room and told me, “August and Tinder are right outside, but before we go out there, I want to say something. I’m not sure if Tinder is going to seem wild or just totally vacant. We never really know what we’re going to get from one minute to the next these days. But beneath this thing that’s taken over his life, he’s funny, snarky, smart, and the bravest person you’ll ever meet. He’s also my best friend, so please give him a chance.” I promised I would before following him outside.

  A large, wooden gazebo housed an outdoor living room with a sofa and several chairs, all in soft shades of green. August was sitting cross-legged on the area rug between the furniture, and he was holding someone on his lap and speaking to him softly. As we approached, Nate told me, “August put up walls of energy around the gazebo to keep Tinder from hurting you or himself. Can you see them?”

  “No.”

  He held up his hand and felt around for a moment before saying, “One of them is right here.”

  I felt like I was being pranked as I reached out. It reminded me of the mime trapped in an invisible box gag, until my fingertips bumped something in midair. When I ran my palms over its surface, it felt smooth and cool to the touch, and as real and solid as if it was made of stone.

  In the next instant, jagged blue lines of electricity shot from my hands. The walls lit up as my energy snaked over them, like a thousand cracks in glass. Nate drew a sharp breath and stepped back, and in the next moment, the walls fell. I both saw and felt them go down. It was like a subtle change in atmospheric pressure, which reverberated slightly in my inner ear.

  When I glanced up, I found that Tinder was on his feet and staring at me. He looked like he was in his early twenties, and he had a slight build and disheveled dark hair. I would have just thought he was a regular guy, a college student maybe, except for one thing—the wildness that burned in his dark eyes. It reminded me of a tiger that had recently been caught and caged.

  Nate reinforced that idea when he told me, “Don’t run. He’ll think you’re prey.”

  Before I could respond, Tinder ran at me, so fast I could barely comprehend it. I was vaguely aware of August lunging at him and missing. In the next instant, I was transported backwards and slammed against the wall of the house.

  Tinder was shockingly strong. He pinned me to the wall like a cat with a moth and bared his teeth, revealing a pair of alarmingly sharp fangs. Power surged through me as some sort of natural survival instinct kicked in. I struggled to hold it in check, so I didn’t accidentally kill him.

  His nostrils flared as he took in my scent, and he held me in place with a crushing grip on my shoulders. I pressed my palms against the rough, white wall and channeled the energy that way, instead of into Tinder. The house shook, and long cracks appeared in the stucco. That got his attention, and he momentarily relaxed his hold on me.

  Suddenly, August scooped up his husband and carried him back to the gazebo, trying to speak to him soothingly as Tinder struggled and growled. Nate came up to me and asked, “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine.” I turned to him and joked, “Finally, a vampire that meets expectations.” Even though I tried to laugh it off, my hands shook a little as the adrenaline drained away.

  “Let’s go inside, and I’ll pour you a drink. It’ll probably take August a while to calm him down again.”

  The open kitchen had a view of the backyard, and I sat at the breakfast bar and watched August and his husband while Nate played bartender. Tinder seemed really agitated, but August held him securely until be started to calm down a bit. “He’s not always that aggressive,” Nate said. “August fed him this morning, because he thought it would help if he wasn’t hungry while you were here. But that stirred up his vampire side, and that’s pretty much all he is right now.”

  “So, what happened to him? August just told me a little. He said he turned Tinder into a vampire, and at first everything was okay.”

  “Two and a half years ago, Tinder made the choice to be turned, so he could spend eternity with his husband. There’s always a slight risk that maybe it won’t take, and that’s potentially devastating, because we have to die for the transformation to take hold.

  “But they planned it carefully and worked a lot of spells together ahead of time to assure the best chance of success. At first, it seemed like everything had gone great. Far better than expected, actually. Tinder woke quickly, and he was much more lucid and rational than any of us could have hoped for.”

  Nate opened a bottle of wine as he told me, “When I was turned, I was lost to my vampire side for months. I was more animal than human and completely consumed with blood lust. Also, I was barely verbal, and I had no compassion or humanity. That’s typical for new vampires, but Tinder was an exception. He was pretty much his old self.”

  As he took some glasses from the cupboard, he continued, “About five months down the road, things started to go wrong. That’s usually when newly made vampires begin to come back to themselves, but just the opposite happened with Tinder. He began lapsing into his vampire side at random times, and he also started experiencing lapses in his memory. His magic became erratic too, and his personality started to change. He became hostile and irritable.”

  As he poured the wine, I said, “Don’t tell me, let me guess. While all of that was going on, August kept using magic to try to fix it.”

  “Yeah, he did. I don’t know if it made things worse or if the downward spiral would have happened anyway, but Tinder kept deteriorating. He’s now at the point where he doesn’t seem to recognize us half the time, and that might not be random. When vampires are turned, there’s a good chance they’ll awaken after the transformation with no memory of their former lives. We have a theory that Tinder has been going through the transformation from human to vampire over the last two and a half years in fits and starts, but it just can’t take properly because there are too many supernatural elements jumbled up in him.”
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br />   “August mentioned the fact that Tinder is part warlock, part werewolf, and also that he comes from a long line of vampire hunters,” I said.

  “Exactly. His warlock side is pretty strong, and the werewolf is just a tiny dash from one of his ancestors, but mostly he’s a vampire hunter, which also has a supernatural component. In our research, we found three other examples throughout history of hunters who’d successfully been turned into vampires, and we already know that warlocks and werewolves can be turned, so none of that should have been a problem. That led us to believe there are just too many different things fighting for control inside Tinder, though overall, the vampire side seems to be winning.”

  “Before Tinder was turned, did he actually hunt and kill vampires?”

  “Yeah. His whole family did, going back several generations. It cost all of them their lives,” Nate said. “Only he survived, because he was one hell of a hunter.”

  I muttered, “What would make a person do a one-eighty like that, to go from hunting vampires to marrying and then becoming one?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Nate handed me a glass as he said, “Love, in its purest, truest form.” I glanced outside. The couple was once again seated on the ground, and August was holding his husband on his lap and gently stroking his hair.

  I thanked him for the wine and took a sip before asking, “Do you ever wish things had turned out differently for you?”

  “No. I get to spend all of eternity with the man I love, and that’s everything to me. Plus, we’re really lucky, because August was able to ward both of us so we can survive in the sunlight. The diet, well, it is what it is. And then there’s the fact that sooner or later, my family is going to realize Nikolai and I never age, while they all continue to get older. But I’m getting a second shot at life, and that makes me incredibly lucky.”

  I watched him take a sip of wine as I said, “So, about the diet…”

  “We have, well, let’s just call it an arrangement with a local blood bank. I’ve never killed anyone, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “Meaning you compel someone at the blood bank to keep you stocked up?”

  “Exactly.” Nikolai came into the kitchen just then, and Nate indicated the wine bottle and asked him, “Do you have time for a drink?”

  “No, I’d better get going. It’ll take a while to get to LAX with traffic.” When I asked if he was going on a trip, Nikolai shook his head. “I’m picking up August’s brother and brother-in-law. They’ve been in Europe, trying to find solutions to Tinder’s problem, but they’re returning empty-handed.”

  “Are they vampires, too?” When Nikolai nodded, I said, “Okay, so I have to ask. Are all vampires gay?”

  Nate grinned at that. “No. It’s just a happy coincidence that the six of us are.” As Nate handed his husband a set of car keys, he asked him, “Was there anything useful in that book of spells you were reviewing?”

  “Nothing, and it was the last of August’s most recent acquisitions.” Nikolai kissed his husband so tenderly that I felt like I was intruding on a private moment. Then he said goodbye to both of us before leaving for the airport.

  August came in a few minutes later and said, “Tyler is asleep on the couch, and the walls are back up.”

  Nate headed for the patio door. “I’ll keep an eye on him so you two can get to work.”

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” August told me.

  “It’s okay, there was no harm done.”

  He was dressed in a dark gray button-down shirt and black jeans, and as he rolled one of his cuffs back, he said, “I had no idea your magic would cancel mine out like that. It’s odd.”

  “Yeah. Me neither, obviously. Now I know not to touch things like that.” I finished my wine, then gestured toward the back of the building. “Oh, and sorry I cracked your house.”

  August waved his hand dismissively. “No worries, that can be fixed. Thank you for holding back with my husband, even though you must have been feeling threatened.”

  “I was afraid I’d kill him if I used my energy to defend myself.”

  “On that note, let’s get to work and see if I can teach you a thing or two about controlling your power.”

  We went out to the front yard, and August said, “I take it by your scorched sofa that you were able to conjure a ball of energy last night.”

  “More or less. I’d started leaking energy from my fingertips and needed to get rid of some in a hurry. I almost couldn’t let go of it, though.”

  “It’s all about intention,” August said, as he positioned himself about fifteen feet from me and produced a ball of light with seemingly no effort. “A lot of magic relies on spells, which are basically very detailed sets of instructions for what you want your magic to do. They’re especially important for those who don’t start off with an abundance of natural ability, to help them strengthen and channel their energy. In your case, you’re incredibly powerful, so you shouldn’t need to verbalize it. Just think about what you want to do and make your magic obey you. Try following my lead.” He tossed the ball of light into the air like a baseball and caught it again.

  I held up my left hand and concentrated. It took a few tries, but eventually, a ball of blue energy appeared. “Okay, I seem to have some control over that,” I said. When the ball abruptly tripled in size, I blurted, “Shit, maybe not.” I tried to shake it off, which didn’t work at all, and I staggered backwards in an effort to get away from it.

  August shouted some instructions, but I was too frazzled to focus on what he was saying. I ended up flinging my arm out and yelling, “Get off me!” Like the night before, that actually worked. The ball of energy slammed into a nearby tree, which immediately became engulfed in flames.

  August glanced at the burning pine, then sighed and said, “You’ve got to learn to get those blue balls under control, mate.”

  The next three hours proved to be both frustrating and exhausting. On a very basic level, I was able to control the release of energy. But it was like trying to paint a tiny canvas with a brush meant to paint a house. There was no finesse to it, no attention to detail. I felt clumsier than ever before, and that was saying a lot, because I always felt like a klutz.

  August ducked my latest fireball as it hurtled past him and murmured, “Let’s take a break, shall we?” Then he extinguished the shrub that was burning behind him without so much as a glance.

  I dropped onto a bench near the front door and ran the back of my hand over my sweaty brow, and he sat beside me and said, “You just need to keep practicing. I think you’ll learn to control it before too long. But there’s another component to this, and I’m not quite sure how to go about teaching it. Anything I’ll say on the subject will sound like utter bollocks.”

  “Say it anyway.”

  “Alright. Well, in order to help Tyler, you’re going to have to learn to see the magic around you.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “That sounds like total nonsense.”

  “I know. It’s true, though. I’m able to look at something a certain way and see whether it’s been bespelled by the energy it gives off. I just don’t know how to teach you that, because it’s always come naturally to me.”

  “So, that’s how you knew my dog isn’t really a dog.”

  “Yes. And with my husband, I can see a wild jumble of energy. It’s all woven together like a huge ball of Christmas lights that I can’t begin to unravel. Believe me, I’ve tried. If you don’t see it too, I don’t know how you’ll help him.”

  After a pause, I asked, “Why do you think I’m so powerful?”

  “Because of your lineage. Your parents were a full-blooded witch and warlock, both descendants of powerful dynasties from different parts of Mexico. As a side note, I think that’s why your ancestors survived as long as they did. The European and Asian dynasties were wiped out long ago, but your people came from fairly isolated rural regions, where they managed to avoid the rivalries that ended so many of the other bloodline
s.”

  “So, a witch and a warlock just happened to meet and fall in love in modern day L.A.? What are the chances?”

  “Pretty good, actually,” he told me. “Magic attracts magic, that’s just a fact. Your parents were probably drawn together from the moment they met.”

  “It’s hard to believe my parents were the real deal. In your research, I’m sure you found out how they made their living. That seems crazy to me now.”

  August grinned. “I was stunned when I discovered they were stage magicians. Talk about hiding in plain sight.”

  “They died in a fire when I was a toddler. It happened while they were on stage, during a dress rehearsal,” I said. “Do you think that was because one of them lost control of their powers, kind of like what you said might happen on my birthday?”

  “No, actually I think they were murdered.”

  That had been the last thing I’d expected him to say. “Why would anyone want to murder a pair of magicians?”

  “Probably because they figured out what your parents were doing wasn’t just an act. Throughout history, there have always been people who sought to destroy those of us with special abilities. Humans fear what they don’t understand, that’s just a fact.” Aunt Roz had been right.

  “Given how strong you seem to think I am, they must have been pretty powerful, both separately and combined,” I said. “So, why the hell would they choose to use their abilities for something as trivial as a stage show?”

  August shrugged. “Their act brought them fame and fortune, and by all accounts, they absolutely loved performing. There are certainly worse ways to use your abilities.”

  “But they could have been Batman.” He raised a brow, and I said, “You know what I mean.”

  “Yes, but not everyone is cut out to be a hero.”