A Spirit's Kindred

by Katherine Kim

  This was the risk with wight wounds, unfortunately. They didn’t just shred your flesh, they went for your soul and tried to turn you as dark as they were themselves. Their misery craved company. So now Kai had to come up with some way to stave off the toxin infecting his thoughts for the evening, and hope that Doc had a solution in the morning.

  He stood and went to leave his beer bottle in the kitchen sink. Maybe a patrol around the apartment complex grounds would be a good idea. Something that warlock had said to Sarah had put them all on edge. It seemed that the man was after Kai specifically for some reason. Well, no, not the warlock himself, naturally. Those greasy jackasses hardly ever did anything without a hefty fee being offered first. Still, the idea that there was someone out there willing to pay someone and risk innocent people— the children and families that lived in the apartments here, their friends living nearby like Sarah, the humans living in the surrounding neighborhood in blissful ignorance— just to get at him pissed him off, and he wanted to make sure that nobody else was being put at risk. It was his responsibility to protect those around him, and like hell he was going to let something slip by again.

  Kai might not be perfect, but Obaachan had made damn sure that he knew his responsibilities before she handed them over in her will. At least he didn’t have to shoulder them alone— Sebastian was more than willing to pitch in and do whatever it took to keep the apartment complex safe and running smoothly, but Kai was the elder and more powerful of the pair, and he felt that most of the heavy lifting fell to him.

  So be it, he would go out and do a few circuits of the property and the nearby neighborhood. He shrugged on a jacket since the spring nights were still plenty cool enough to need one and pulled the door open to reveal a man standing there, his fist raised to knock.

  “Er,” said the stranger. “Good evening.”

  “I’m sorry, no soliciting is allowed here. I can walk you out,” Kai said, trying to plaster a distantly polite smile on his face.

  “Oh, um. No,” the stranger said, shifting his weight slightly. “No, that’s not why I’m here. I know it’s late to show up like this, but I was hoping to talk to someone from the leasing office.”

  Kai looked the man over, trying to sense his strength. The man was fairly tall– a bit taller than Kai’s own six feet– but not especially large, though Kai had to look up slightly to meet his eyes. He wore his light brown hair short enough to not worry about a comb— which he obviously didn’t. He was dressed in what seemed to be a vague attempt at hipster style, with a plaid cotton shirt buttoned up under a cardigan, and thick black frames on his glasses. Kai wondered if he was another techie on a Silicon Valley pilgrimage.

  “I heard that this was a sanctuary of sorts,” the stranger said after a moment. “My name is Marcus Wells. Please, is there someone I can talk to?”

  “A sanctuary?” Kai said. He was only slightly surprised. It had been some time since he’d heard the word used to describe his community, but it was fairly accurate. The Village at Rancho San Calafia was certainly a sort of sanctuary, or it had been before the wights started attacking. How did this man know, though? It was not the sort of information Kai wanted to float around for public consumption.

  “Was that just a rumor?” Marcus asked. His face started to look ashen, and Kai noticed that exhaustion was written in every line of the man’s posture.

  “I guess that depends on what you need sanctuary from. If the answer is high rent, we’re not much better than anywhere else, I’m afraid.” Kai waved towards the offices across the hall. Better to play this carefully.

  “Hunters,” Marcus said, his voice raspy with grief. “And I have to protect my daughter.”

  3

  Sebastian and Sarah rushed into the conference room.

  “Sorry we’re late everyone,” Sarah said.

  “We were out grabbing dinner,” Sebastian added, his face red. Kai raised an eyebrow at them and grinned. Sebastian had mooned over Miss Rosie’s stories of her granddaughter in New York for a good ten years. Kai was happy that not only was Sarah everything Miss Rosie had said and then some, but that Sebastian’s feelings seemed to be reciprocated. They made a sweet pair.

  “Sure,” Kai winked at Sarah who was turning pink now as well. “Anyway, now that we’re all here, this is Marcus Wells. He’d like to rent an apartment.”

  “So why call us?” Jennifer looked puzzled. “I mean isn’t that something you can handle yourself? And it’s sort of late for a lease signing, isn’t it?”

  Kai looked around the table. He’d called together the people he privately thought of as the Village Council. Most of them anyway. Mr. Young, who was old even when Obaachan was born and was unquestionably powerful; Jennifer Anderson, who was a lawyer and kept firm rein on both the Village’s legal affairs and her teenage sons; Doc, the witch who ran the Apothecary tea shop and provided specialized medical care to the spirit community that lived here. Sebastian, of course, was legally the other half of the management of the apartment complex their grandmother had left them to watch over. They no longer owned it, however. After the recent business with the wights and the warlock, they had decided to work out a co-op arrangement. Now every resident was part owner, to prevent any problems in case something happened to one or the other brother, and that was another reason that Kai had wanted the Council involved.

  “Ordinarily, sure. But you know I like to get advice on anything that will affect the whole Village.” He flicked his attention over to Marcus, who sat in the middle of one long side, still as a grave marker. “Marcus, it’s your story, perhaps it would be best if you told it.”

  Marcus slumped for a moment before he lifted his chin and looked around the room. He spoke with a calm, steady voice, but everyone at the table could hear the stress in his words.

  “I was, until last year, living in Florida with my family. There aren’t any places like this out there near Miami where we were, so we just had a house like anyone else, and I tried to hide in plain sight. I worked as security for a club that attracted a pretty decent paranormal crowd, and did some freelance coding work at home, and my wife was a nurse at a pediatrician’s office. We had a good life and didn’t bother anyone.” Marcus stared at his hands while he recited his story and Kai watched the muscles in Marcus’ jaw twitch when he paused. The man seemed to be nearing the limit of his abilities.

  “Well, last year, right after school started for the year, our daughter came home from school with an odd story about a woman who had been asking questions around the front of the building when the kids were going in. Just being friendly and making small talk while she waited for the bus. Cassie may have only been ten, but she is a pretty bright kid and she thought something felt off. Turns out the woman was half of a team of hunters, looking for prey.”

  There was a quiet rustle as everyone reacted. Sarah frowned.

  “Hunters?” she asked. Marcus glanced up, and then around to Kai.

  “Sometimes humans get it in their head that all spirits everywhere are evil, or a certain subset are, or some variation on the theme,” Kai said. “You end up with hunters or exorcists or what have you. Once upon a time, many of them were like me and Seb— part spirit, part human. You don’t tend to hear any stories about some half breed spirit getting pissy and murdering people or being sent off do things the non-human parent didn’t want to be bothered with. Instead you’ve got myths like the glorious tale of the great hero Perseus killing the evil monster Medusa, or the tales of Hercules. That sort of thing. Those guys were just like us, if they really existed, and went out to ‘save the helpless humans from the terrible monster’ or some other dumb thing.”

  “In a way, I can’t blame humans, in general,” Jennifer said, shaking her head sadly. “It’s natural to be afraid of something you see as a threat. Any one of us in this room is significantly more powerful than any ordinary human. That’s one of the reasons we’re all here, so that when some human decides to start a witch hunt for lack of a better term, we
have safety in numbers. Keiko knew that we needed a place to feel safe, and that banding together would be an excellent solution.”

  “But that can’t still be a thing, can it?” Sarah sounded outraged. Kai smiled at her, no actual humor in his expression. She was still fairly new to the idea of being a witch, and there was so much she didn’t know. He hated that they had to burden her with this, but it was best she knew for her own safety.

  “It can and it is. Fortunately, it’s not as common anymore. Most humans don’t believe we even exist, and that helps keep us safe.” Sebastian put his arm around Sarah’s shoulders and nodded for Marcus to continue.

  “Well, these hunters— the woman and her boyfriend— they definitely believe in us, and apparently they think that paranormal beings are primarily evil. I…” Marcus swallowed and looked uncomfortable. “Paranormals like me do not have the best of reputations.”

  “Sorry again,” Sarah raised her hand and looked sheepishly at Kai. “What do you mean by paranormals?”

  Marcus frowned with confusion, his momentum interrupted. Sebastian tried unsuccessfully to hide his smile.

  “You know how people in the Midwest use the word pop instead of soda? It’s the same thing. We usually refer to ourselves as spirits out here on the West Coast but back East they say ‘paranormals’ instead,” Seb filled in. Sarah nodded and ducked her head in apology to Marcus.

  “Sorry. I only learned about all this stuff last month,” she explained to him. “I have a lot of catching up to do.”

  “What do you mean people like you?” Jennifer asked, bringing the subject back around. “We don’t need to know if it’s too personal for you. It isn’t really a factor here.” She glanced around the room at her friends and neighbors. People generally didn’t ask others about what sort of spirit they were. It was something that wasn’t necessary, really, and many who moved to the community had been victims of some sort of persecution or another and preferred not to talk about it until they were more comfortable. Marcus was staring at his fingers again, however, and sounded like he was confessing something.

  “I am a lidérc. Most mythology would classify me as a sort of Hungarian vampire. I’m certain that the hunters have done so,” he said. Again, there was a rustling sound, and Mr. Young sat forward, an eyebrow raised at the newcomer. Marcus jolted when he met the old man’s eyes. Kai almost smiled for real this time— Mr. Young had that effect on just about everyone.

  “A vampire?” Sarah glanced down the table. Her question broke the tension. Marcus blinked a few times and shook his head to clear it.

  “It’s nearly unheard of for one of my kind to fall in love like I did, but that’s what happened when I met my wife.” A smile started to spread across his face and it made him softer, the pain and fear in his eyes faded slightly, and Kai could feel the shifts in his mood as he spoke of her. “It was almost instant, the moment I saw her I felt like the whole world had tilted. It wasn’t long at all before I told her what I was. I hated it, but I told her that we should stop seeing each other and that I ought to leave, for her own safety. She insisted on working it out. She—” Marcus’ voice cracked and he swallowed heavily.

  “We understand,” Sarah said quietly. She glanced around the table and everyone nodded. “It’s obviously a very personal story. As long as everyone here is safe— not just in the Village, but the regular humans in the neighborhood and the city in general, that’s all we need to know.” Kai saw her eyes were wide and curious and was pretty proud that she didn’t seem afraid at all. Of course, after the wights, it was tough to work up much fear of anything.

  Marcus looked up and smiled weakly.

  “Thank you. I don’t go hunting, if that’s your concern. Not for a very long time, and I promised Sam. She, um…” Marcus stumbled over the words for a moment. “She insisted on a more traditional arrangement.” Kai saw Sarah blink twice, puzzled. Sebastian was trying not to grin at her reaction. He leaned over to whisper something and she turned beet red.

  “Anyway, the hunter showed up and your daughter got suspicious.” Kai needed to keep this meeting on track. It was late and they were probably all tired.

  “I guess it took a few weeks, but the woman kept showing up at the school, and Cass did her best to avoid her, but Cassie’s friends and classmates got used to seeing her, and she seemed friendly enough I expect. Eventually someone mentioned that Cassie’s stepdad was a night owl who didn’t go out much, and the hunters started digging. They were violent and didn’t seem to care who they hurt or killed in their hunt. They came to the club I worked in and started shooting. It was horrible, so many people died, paranormal and human.” Marcus’ voice cracked and the muscle in his jaw bulged as he took a moment to pull his emotions back. “In the end, Samantha was murdered as well. I stayed just long enough to bury her, then took Cassie and ran. I couldn’t let them hurt her, too.”

  Jennifer put her hand over his and smiled sadly. Kai felt the anger and the coldness stirring as Marcus’ story went on. These hunters were far worse than the warlock. Not only did they not care who they hurt on their way to murdering Marcus, but hunters rarely took these jobs for pay. Sure, they’d go after a target if someone offered them a job, but mostly a hunter was driven by some sort of personal belief in the inherent evilness of spirits. It was exactly this sort of human that made places like The Village necessary and made Kai’s rage skitter across his mind.

  “And she’s been on the run with you since?” Jennifer asked. Doc got up and went over to the cupboard at the end of the room. There was a hot water pot and she rummaged for the tea things she had stored there behind the coffeemaker.

  “Yes. Sam’s parents agreed that it was the best idea. They came to town for the funeral and we discussed it the night before. We had some police protection because of the whole thing, so the hunters couldn’t get close enough to try again. Cass and I left almost before Sam was—” Marcus stared at his hands resting on the table, his jaw clenched. Doc set the steaming mug in front of him without a word and resumed her seat.

  Marcus wrapped his shaking fingers around the mug. Kai watched him stare at the steam and swallow heavily, the only sounds in the room were the soft pinging of the baseboard heaters turning on. After a moment he straightened in the chair and pulled his shoulders back. He met Kai’s gaze steadily and both men felt the despair over the decision to run.

  “We couldn’t stay in touch with Sam’s folks in case those hunters decided to watch them, but I’ve tried to sometimes let them know that we’re doing well, to keep them from worrying. Cass lost her mother that day, but she also lost her grandparents and her friends… everything she’d ever known, and it’s my fault. She could blame me for it and she wouldn’t be wrong. The hunters only came because of me, after all. But she deserves to have a childhood where she’s not on the run. To have normal things like friends and science fair projects and complaining about boys or whatever it is kids complain about these days. She deserves a life in the sunshine, and I can’t give her that by myself, without someplace to be home. We heard about this place when we were in Mexico last month. They said that it was a good place.”

  “Well, we do try,” Sebastian said, glancing at Kai.

  “Well? What are our thoughts?” Kai looked at the faces around the table. He wanted it discussed out loud, even though he already knew what they would all say. He could see it on their faces. “Marcus would like to move here with his human step-daughter. There is the not inconceivable possibility that those hunters would show up and it sounds like they don’t much care who would get hurt in the crossfire.”

  “That does seem to be a pretty normal thing for us these days,” Doc muttered.

  “The wight problem was dealt with. Even though the warlock escaped, it will take him years to gather that many wights again. Hunters are a completely different problem. They’re usually ruthless and single-minded, and apparently these ones aren’t against using innocent children. They weren’t even being subtle about it,” Sebastia
n said. Mr. Young sighed and nodded. There was a deep sadness in the gaze he directed around the table.

  “Keiko built the apartments to give us all a safe place,” Jennifer said. “Spirits and their human families alike.”

  “I agree.” Kai nodded. “’Baachan started this place so that we could feel safe. There is strength in numbers. Unless there are any concerns anyone wishes to bring up, I suggest we let the community know that there may be hunters coming to the area and keep our ears open.”

  “Unit B38 is almost ready,” Sebastian said. “Basically, just needs painting, the Sandersons left it in great shape. If you don’t mind us coming in to paint, you could move in first thing tomorrow. Er, I guess I mean tomorrow night?”

  Marcus swallowed thickly again and nodded.

  “Thank you,” he said. Jennifer reached her hand over to his.

  “You’re welcome. We can’t wait to meet Cassie. And if you have any questions about the schools or parks or whatnot around here, ask away. I’ve been through it all with my boys,” Jennifer said. Kai sat back in his chair and smiled.

  4

  Kai lounged in the well-worn armchair by the window and closed his eyes for a moment to soak in the heat of the sunshine that poured through the plate glass front of the shop. The Apothecary hummed along with the soothingly familiar music of cafes everywhere: clinking dishes, the metallic ping of silverware, the murmur of conversations around him.

  Today the scents of orange peels and lavender seemed to dominate, but underneath he could pick out cinnamon, coffee, mint, the grassy scent of the green tea, and closer he smelled the nettles he knew were included in his own brew, as well as the subtly floral chamomile and the sunshine scent of calendula. After he savored the herbs steeping in the pots scattered around the room, he turned his attention to picking out the tea cakes and other small finger foods they served, all of which were warm with good cheer and the encouragement of health and happiness. He expected no less from a tea shop run by witches and wished he could find a way to wrap himself up in this comfort like a thick quilt.