“Why don’t the three of us spend the morning together?” Jayne was the one to make the suggestion. I was too busy watching Ray.
Ray eventually found his voice. “We do have a lot to catch up on.”
I squeezed his hand gently. “I have to go.”
He leaned down, kissing me briefly. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Before I left, I took Jayne to one side for a second. “Be nice. It wasn’t his fault.”
She nodded once, but I wasn’t convinced. Still, the quicker I found the Cats, the faster I could get back to Ray. That couldn’t have come soon enough.
I left him leading Helen through to the living room, Jayne following quietly.
With a small amount of persuasion, Lizzy agreed to leave early. It was only by a few minutes, but those few minutes would be worth it at the end of the day.
“Aunt Sere, this is James, Andy, and Sophie,” she introduced us when we picked them up.
James was the one she thought was a witch. She had a good eye. He wasn’t much older than he appeared, but he certainly was a witch. The more years they had, the more power they radiated. We could see it in the same way we could tell who the vampires were. At best, James was in his thirties. Certainly no more than forty.
It was rare to see young witches. After being hunted to near extinction, most of them didn’t dare tell any human their secret, much less reproduce with one. An immortal’s genes were almost always dominant, especially witches’ and Weres’. There was a ninety percent chance of changing with a Were as a parent.
“Did I hear Lizzy say you were related to someone we’re seeing today?” I asked, shaking his outstretched hand.
“Yeah, Martin’s my cousin,” he answered. “Almost. We’re related through my grandmother.”
That sounded odd. Unless Lizzy was wrong and it wasn’t the Cats he was related to. The races didn’t mix. Weres didn’t breed with witches, only humans. Witches were the same.
I hadn’t heard of a new colony of witches popping up. That much energy in one place drew attention. Young witches could be reckless with their abilities. Many of them died because they tried something far beyond their powers.
Witches were also the only race who had a chance of recognising us when they saw us. They found each other the same way we found vampires. And though James didn’t show any signs he knew what I was, he could have hidden it.
“I guess you’re navigating,” I said, smiling.
It was frustrating, having to drive at normal speeds, but there was no rush—other than my need to see Ray. I could have made it in half that time, but Lizzy was in the car, and so were her friends. They were good kids, more interested in their studies than dancing and discos. Lizzy was a great judge of character.
“We’re meeting up with Martin outside the village, then we can hike from there,” James said as I took the final turn, “if the weather holds.”
That was a big if. The morning had been sunny and bright, but the further north we went, the darker the clouds had become. By the time we cleared the last few miles, it threatened to wash out the whole day.
Standing just off the road, sheltered by the trees, were three of the most obvious Weres I’d ever seen. While Ray towered a foot above me, they were nearly a foot taller. The physical appearance of each of the Weres differed depending on their animal. The Bears tended to be shorter, stout almost. The Wolves were almost as tall as the Cats, and similar in build, but with longer faces and more defined muscular structures in their human forms.
The long, sleek bodies standing beneath the tree clearly screaming animalistic power were the clearest indicator of what they were. The keen eyes that followed my every move gave them away even more.
As soon as I stepped out, they backed off, glaring.
“James, may I suggest you and Lizzy take the car into the village? I don’t think the weather’s going to hold for us.” I kept a careful eye on the three Cats.
“I’m staying, Aunt Sere,” Lizzy whispered, standing next to me.
“No.”
“I’m not sure you can make me leave.”
“I’ll damn well try.” Given the situation, I’d drag her away if needed.
“You hurt them, and you answer to me.” The menace in her voice confused me.
“Go, Lizzy.”
She didn’t take much more persuading. I couldn’t guarantee her safety. Though no Were could change when I was close enough, I didn’t know if that would work with Lizzy by my side. I wasn’t willing to test the theory using her life, and I didn’t have time to wonder what her warning had meant.
“What do you want?” the one in the middle inquired, almost hissing.
“Martin, I presume?”
“That would be me, not that it’s any of your concern, vampire,” the one on the left answered, the shortest of the three.
“Okay. One, I am not a vampire. Two, I am curious to know how a Great Cat is related to a witch. Three, that isn’t going to work.” The last of the three looked as if he was desperately trying to shift forms. He was stuck as a human until he moved far enough away from me.
“How did you know if you’re not a vampire?” the tallest one asked.
“I’m not a Were, I’m not a witch, and I am not a vampire. Clearly I am not human, so I would’ve thought you could put it together.” They had their own stories, records of a kind passed from generation to generation. My race was part of their records. In passing at least.
“Why should we believe you?”
“I didn’t come here to argue with you. I came for your help,” I told them. “Who are your colony’s elders?”
“I’m one,” the tallest informed me. “The name’s Alex.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex. Mine is Serenity.”
A light clicked on inside Alex’s mind when I told him my name. He instantly relaxed, as though he knew exactly who I was. Only seconds later he agreed to take me to the other elders. The third Cat didn’t seem happy about it, but Alex soon silenced him.
“If you don’t mind me asking, Martin, how are you related to a witch?” I inquired as we walked the two miles to the village.
“My grandmother is a witch, my grandfather a Cat. My father got the Cat genes and James’s mum got the witch genes.” He rushed through his explanation, almost eagerly. “Who was the girl you were with?”
“Sophie?” He couldn’t mean Lizzy.
“The one that looked like you.”
“Don’t get your hopes up, kid. She’ll find her partner exactly how I found mine.”
“She’s pretty,” he muttered.
We were the only race that found our mates as we did. Our lives were so busy with our work that we never stopped to check every face to see if they were the one for us. By having that pull towards them, that unbreakable connection, it made us stop and take the time to really see. Lizzy would find hers the same way, not quite as profound, but fairly close.
Unless . . . No, that is impossible.
It was one thing we knew for certain happened regardless of whether we reached maturity or not. All of our partners had been human. We’d never had a partner outside of the human race. Ray had been human when I met him. For those of us who found their partner before they reached maturity, reaching maturity didn’t happen. Who wanted to live forever when your only partner was already dead and gone?
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Martin said as the first houses came into our line of sight, “why do you smell like a vampire?”
“Long story.”
“Care to share?” Alex pressed. “The other elders may wish to know.”
“I met my partner in 1940. I lost him the same year. Up until this week, I thought he was either human, living out his days away from me, or dead. As it happens, he was turned.” It was the short version of my story, and the only one they were getting.
“I didn’t think that was possible,” Alex mused.
“How old are you?”
“Older than I look. Celebrat
ed my two-hundredth birthday last year.”
He didn’t appear to be a day over forty. As with all of the immortal races, the Weres were ageless. Once they began their first shift, with the first full moon after reaching adulthood, they were frozen in time. As they grew older they mastered their abilities. When they were young they could only shift on the full moon.
Their ability to age came with their capability to control their shifting. They literally had to will themselves to age, and it was rare for any of their elders to look much above forty or fifty.
“I better give them some warning,” Alex said, pausing in front of a small stone cottage. “I wouldn’t want them to end up attacking you.”
“Are they likely to?”
“After what happened with the Wolves, we normally kill vampires on sight,” he explained.
I smiled. “Best let them know then.”
I was left outside with Martin and the other very nervous-looking Cat. Neither of them was much older than Lizzy, though Martin was a lot more relaxed than his friend. They couldn’t have been shifting for more than five years, at the most. Practically newborns.
“You two head on up to see James,” Alex said, when he opened the door a few minutes later. “Elders only.”
“No chance of me staying?” Martin asked.
“Not unless you want me to tell your mother what happened earlier,” he countered.
“Fine.” Martin sighed. “Still wasn’t my fault.”
“Go on, Son.”
Son? So Alex was Martin’s dad. “Come on in.”
I was led into the brightly lit cottage. It was nothing like I’d expected a Were’s home to be. Not that I’d actually been in a Were’s home before. It was all rather normal. Coats slung over the banister, a vacuum cleaner peeking out from under the stairs.
Sitting around the table were two men and two women, one of whom I recognised immediately.
“Serenity Cardea. I never thought I’d see your face so soon,” she said.
“Never thought I’d see you mating with Weres,” I retorted, pulling her into a hug.
Georgianna Rose. At least that had been her name when I first met her. She was the oldest witch in the world, and the most powerful one at that. Standing at an average five foot seven, she was far from average. Her white blond hair contrasted almost starkly with her tanned features and bright eyes. I’d met her when the witches were being hunted in the 1600s. She was one of the few we’d managed to save.
“You assume too much, Serenity,” she chastised me.
“Tell me I’m wrong.”
“You, my dear, are never wrong.”
It was good to see such a friendly and familiar face. She’d offered me anything I wanted in return for saving her. I’d refused. Though it had been tempting to call in that favour when I couldn’t find Ray, I didn’t.
“I take it you know my mother, then,” Alex interrupted.
“Serenity doesn’t merely know me; she’s the reason I’m still alive.” Her proclamation sounded more like something to be announced in front of royalty, not family. “Now, what can we do for you?”
I sat and explained everything to them. I told them what I wanted. It took almost the entire day to explain what had happened with Ray, and why I still needed their help, even after finding him again. It was the first time I’d admitted to anyone that I was fighting a losing battle. The world didn’t need to know that sort of information.
As it was, I had to travel for at least a week once a year, every year, and that was just to keep my influence over The Seats. There were so many other incidents requiring my attention that I barely spent a full month at home without interruption. I wasn’t sure if I could continue with Ray by my side.
“I think we need to discuss your request,” Alex told me once I was finished.
Georgianna and I were led into the living room so the Cats could talk amongst themselves. It was a lot to ask, for them to protect my family as well as their own. I wouldn’t have blamed them if they chose to deny me. I’d never done anything for them, but I had offered them anything they ever needed in exchange.
“And?” I asked when Alex returned almost an hour later.
“Provisionally, yes,” he said, smiling.
“However?”
“We are somewhat concerned about what you told us regarding your mate.” I hadn’t lied to them about who Ray was or with whom he was travelling.
“I understand,” I sighed. “I’m not exactly comfortable with them myself.”
“If something were to happen,” Georgianna added, “regarding a certain grandson of mine, would that change things?”
“What do you know, Mother?”
“I’m a woman of many talents, and I know a psychic when I get close to one,” she said, glaring pointedly at Alex.
“What am I missing?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“You know how I can sense power? It was how I knew Alex would be a Cat where his sister wasn’t.” I did know that. “A friend of mine told me my grandson would find his mate in a psychic. I believe that psychic is your niece.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” I said. “We don’t mate outside of the human race.”
“Neither do we.”
“How did that come about?”
“I don’t know why I fell for him, I just did.” She smiled, glancing back towards the kitchen. “The world is changing, Serenity. I found my mate, and he was a Cat. You found yours, and he was turned.”
“Coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
Neither did I.
I thanked the elders for their time and asked Alex to show me where Lizzy was. The rain was starting to fall, so there was no chance of any hiking, and I missed Ray. Knowing exactly where he was didn’t help. I wanted him by my side.
“They weren’t as volatile as you thought, were they?” Georgianna asked me as we walked.
“I expected something different.”
“It’s because they recognised you,” she whispered. “At least once they stopped believing you to be a vampire.”
“You told them of me?”
“They know of the red-haired Keeper who saved my life.”
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“I know, and that is why my offer still stands. Four hundred years has taught me a lot, Serenity.” She was hinting at something.
“That’s not the kind of decision I can make without Ray,” I answered.
“Talk to him. Anything is possible for someone my age.”
She was implying the impossible. Changing Ray back. It would kill her, if she were able to do it. Not only could I not ask her for her life in exchange for saving it, I couldn’t risk Ray’s either. It was the sort of spell that came with no guarantees, for anyone involved.
“Nothing to think about,” I said, closing the subject.
My hair was soaked by the time we walked the single street to Martin’s house. It looked like the others, a small cottage made of stone. There was quiet music and distinctly hushed voices coming from inside. Excited voices.
Alex let me in then disappeared, leaving me with Georgianna. All of a sudden I felt like I was the grown-up crashing the teenagers’ party. When I pushed the door open, I froze.
Martin was sitting on one of the chairs . . . with Lizzy firmly planted in his lap. There was an expression on her face that I knew all too well. I’d seen it on William’s when he met Alison.
Lizzy had found her partner.
I growled, turning to Georgianna. “Damn you for being right.”
“I only knew it was a possibility.”
“Lizzy,” I called, startling her. “Time to leave.”
She’d been staring so intently at Martin that she literally jumped when I called her name. When she realised I’d said it was time to leave, her face fell.
“If he’s allowed,” I added, smiling tightly, “he can come, too.”
“Thank you,” she squea
led.
Cats were sturdy, and it was a good thing. The way Lizzy dragged Martin from the room it appeared as if she was about to remove his arm. He didn’t seem to mind at all. Everyone else stared after them, dumbfounded.
“How are we all going to fit in the car?” the other girl, Sophie I think, piped up.
“I have to drive to Newcastle anyway, I could drop you two off,” Georgianna offered.
It was settled. Georgianna left with Sophie and Andy, leaving James to travel with me. I would be glad of the distraction. Lizzy was exactly like her mother, and that meant she wouldn’t shut up for days. Weeks, more than likely.
“You know my grandma?” James asked.
“I met Georgianna a long time ago.”
James turned out to be an all right kid. I wasn’t too far off with his age; he was just older than I’d originally thought. Now that I was truly looking, I saw the resemblance between him and Georgianna. James had her eyes; ocean blue ones that were brighter than anything any human had. It was a witch trait, one we shared. Bright eyes.
Lizzy was beaming when she returned. “He has to run home, but I can bring him with us.”
“Let’s go home then.”
The drive home was interesting. Lizzy climbed in the back with Martin and talked the entire time. James and I discussed various things, mainly revolving around Georgianna and what she’d been up to over the years. James didn’t know why she’d fallen for his grandfather, only that they were happy together.
It reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite recall what it was. Couldn’t have been that important.
James paused before opening the door when I dropped him off. “If you ever need anything—”
“I’ll ask your grandmother.”
He chuckled. “Thought you might.”
James didn’t bother to say goodbye to Martin; he was busy with Lizzy. He told her all about his first shift, the pain he went through, and the confusion. Lizzy just sat there, a look of total absorption on her face.
I almost had to drag the pair of them out of the car when we arrived home.
The Last Keeper Page 23
