Awakening the Red Claws

by C P Sennett

  I raced into the house and down to where the girls were. Tabitha was fine, her eyeliner had traced dark tear marks down her face but otherwise she said she wasn’t harmed. Fern also seemed ok and the mephit was trying to comfort Tabitha.

  “Is he?”

  Fern nodded. “He saved us.”

  “Good of him.” I said solemnly.

  “Who was that?” asked Tabitha, no emotion in her voice at all, just resolve.

  “Carval Coyne, a vampire formally of house Coyne. Outlawed now, it’s what I’ve been working on recently. Politics, politics between lycans, werecreatures to you, and vampires. It’s a big deal and a messy one.”

  “Is it over?” Tabitha asked.

  I knelt down beside her and I could see Ben was now pale and the pocked bite marks clearly visible on his wrist now. His eyes looked normal but there was no life in them. Then, I answered Tabitha. “I thought it was already.”

  “Did he die for politics?” she asked coldly.

  “Hundreds die every day for politics.” I said, as it seemed fitting. “I…I don’t know what else to say, sorry.”

  “Then, don’t say anything.” she said. “Is there a number we can call.”

  “I’ll do all that, he’s from the Order so I’ll get someone sent here. I will also see his selfless act is recognised. He shouldn’t have been here though.” I said the last bit aloud by accident.

  “No, he shouldn’t, he saved us though.” added Fern holding Tabitha tighter.

  I didn’t know what to say. Anything I said here was going to be wrong, wrong by Fern, wrong by me, wrong by Ben, he didn’t deserve this, but mostly wrong by Tabitha.

  I got up, went and picked up my staff and shrunk it back to its normal size before walking out running my fingers through my hair.

  ****

  That night, my head hurt from everything but again I got no sleep. I had been up reading as much as I could about a way of locating Carval, and I had some good ideas forming.

  The next day I had sorted out as much as I could. I had spoken to Enid Rivers first thing; she is the Elected for the East of England and I gave her a rundown of what had happened.

  Enid seemed choked up about Ben herself, she had trained him and sent him here. Not quite on the covert mission Ben had thought it to be but it seemed he liked to do things his own way. I wasn’t sure if I believed her account fully but she seemed genuine about how headstrong the boy was and that he was a good but hard student to teach.

  I told her about Tabitha, Fern and everything except the big serpent thing in Essex. I explained about the lycans and she seemed troubled about the death of Malcolm as well. She said it would hit many in the Order hard as he was quite involved and a bit of a poster boy for those who wanted to meet and share ideas. That whole ‘networking’ thing wasn’t my thing, but I felt for him.

  Enid knew him well. Earlier I had moved the van and Malcolm was in it. His body was covered in bruises and leaking from the poison that had been used on him. It was a horrific sight. He had been drained and then poisoned before the damage was done to his face.

  The man outside was gone, no trouble at all so hopefully that was that sorted.

  Tabitha and Fern had remained upstairs all the time. Tabitha trying to come to terms with things. After all, it was only a few months ago she lost her parents and learned about the horrors of the world. Now she had lost someone she liked, poor kid.

  My earlier call with Enid had gotten a little heated at first but we reached a common ground in the end.

  I carried on looking through the book which Carval wanted from Sam’s. It was the history of a French noble family of all things. Carval’s real family information. He was born Carval Bernat. His Aunt Lady Vanita Bernat. I was reading it as best I could, but my French wasn’t great, so - it was slow going. It had some importance to him, perhaps to rally allies or fortunes which he feels are rightfully his. Most likely though it was sentimentality.

  He wanted this though and he wanted it for something, if it was something important I would find it.

  I was disturbed by footsteps coming down the hallway and Fern appeared with a cup of hot, black coffee for me.

  “Here you go. Did your calls go well?”

  “I made a few, and yes as well as they can.”

  She smiled. “So, are you going to end up being Sentinel for Kent as well as Suffolk and Essex.”

  I chuckled. “No, they would get my resignation before I would do three. Someone else will be given Essex soon enough now. It’s a priority for them now things will still be prickly with Kent.”

  “So, otherwise they are going to sort things out?”

  “Yep, there are plenty of things afoot, big things bothering the Order now. Things, I’m not keen on getting involved in. Disagreements and leadership disputes will follow soon as it then descends into a popularity contest. People vying for power and all, it’s not my thing.”

  “How are you holding up?” she asked nicely for a change.

  I was about to reply when Tabitha came in. She was in black leggings and a big oversized burgundy jumper. “Hey you.” she said with a smile.

  “Hey you.” I replied with a half-smile back. “You ok?” I asked her.

  She nodded with another smile that looked forced.

  Fern then leant across to her and laid a reassuring hand on Tabitha as she sat down on an old rocking chair in my room. “If you need anything darling just let me know.” she said sounding genuinely nice.

  “I will.” replied Tabitha.

  Tabitha looked at me. “Are you ok Eddie, you look odd?” she asked finding her voice.

  “It’s funny, Fern was just asking me how I’m holding up.” I said.

  “Good, you should keep up your strength, Suffolk needs its Sentinel in top form.”

  I smiled weakly and took in a deep breath.

  “True.” I said.

  Fern turned to me. “If there is anything I can do for you as well Eddie, let me know.” she said smiling expectantly and running her fingers through her lovely golden hair.

  “There is.” I said standing up, reinvigorated.

  Fern looked at me keenly as I spoke with a harsh voice. “You need to leave today. I’m not running a hotel and it’s not safe here.”

  She scowled. “What?”

  Tabitha then chipped in, unhappy with what she was hearing. “You can’t kick her out. After all we’ve been through.” she protested with her lovely posh sounding voice.

  “No, I’m not just kicking her out. You’re going also, you’re going to the Order to learn magic properly…”

  Then, all hell broke loose.

  Authors Notes

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this book and the stories I share about Eddie and his work. At the time of publishing this it’s early in 2019 but I’ve been working on this for a long time now.

  I owe a lot of thanks to a lot of people for helping me with writing. It’s something I enjoy, as it helps me to relax. Not easy in modern day times.

  The third book in the series will be out before Q3 2019. Please do keep an eye out for Power Of The Mind around June 2019.