by Izzy Shows
“Vampires,” I said, in-between bites. “I need to know everything you’ve got on vampires. We’ve got one tearing heads off mundanes.”
His already huge eyes went wide. “Vampires don’t do that,” he said.
“Well this one is. I used that spell you taught me, to see through the victim’s eyes, and it was a vampire draining the blood out of her. No doubt about it in my mind.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “Is something I is seeing several centuries ago, before the vampires was banded together to form Houses and brought their orders to their killings. I is not seeing such behaviour since then.”
“The Houses?” I was curious. It wasn’t inherently relevant to what was going on, but I had said I wanted all the lore on vampires, and I felt like it might come in handy to know in the future.
He bobbed his oversized head. “The houses is a European Vampire things. Theys is the child of Fae and Demons, but theys is not the only vampires in the worlds. Different covens, different breedings. Is very, very complicating. Theys being very old fashioned, all kinds of agreeing together about how killings is allowed. Is boiling down to not killing in another vampy’s territories. Then they die,” he said, his eyes going wide as he lifted his hands up beside his head, splaying his fingers.
I giggled, covering my mouth with one hand. He was so adorable.
“Theys is also having all sorts of rules for the ones inside the houses. I knows in England, is not allowed to kill unless mister lordy says is OK. Is grave offense to reveal theyself to the world.” His expression grew sober then, and he nodded to himself.
I let a moment of silence pass before I spoke.
“Sounds a lot like how the Wizards dealt with things,” I said, frowning. “I didn’t realise they had so much in common.”
“It is the way that most of the creatures handled the attacks in the dark ages. Band together or die, it is the human way, no?” He blinked, staring up at me.
“Yeah, I suppose so,” I said, under my breath. It was the truth, evidenced throughout human history. We always moved in groups, always stuck together, relied on gossip back in the day before we called it the news so that we knew what was going on and how we should handle situations. To go off alone was to risk being eaten by whatever was out there at the time, and we had only continued the tradition as time marched on. Even today, we all lived in close knit communities, our family units all stayed together for the most part. Even some friends lived together nowadays.
“So, this vampire is breaking all the rules then. He’s killing unapproved victim’s, he’s killing at random intervals, and he’s barely avoided bringing attention to the supernatural community by beheading his victims. He still got the attention of the police though, Finn knew something was up as soon as he saw the body was drained of blood.”
“He only knew that because he knew to looks for things like this. A regular police person would not have had the second thinks about it,” Fred said.
“Good point.” Bloody mundanes and their love of ignorance. I suppose that worked for me rather than against me in most situations, but still. Sheep mentality was just annoying.
“So, what weaknesses do they have?”
“Very little. Theys are stronger and faster than humans, theys possess the ability to control minds, theys can turn themselves to mist and move through cities undetected, and their senses are almost likes those of the Fae. Theys are not bullet proofed, but theys take a lot of damage before theys dies. And so far, not one dies of old age.”
That was a little terrifying. Not one? Not even any of the originators of the species? You would think at least those had died off by now, but apparently not.
“So, I’m screwed then,” I said, shoulders slumping.
“I said very little, not nothings,” he said, sounding a little annoyed with me. “When theys is not having enough bloods, theys is losing powers, and when they has none, is all going poof. Sunlight is being bad, yes, of course, and theys is not crossing running water. Is wood, though.“ He stared at me, his eyes burning holes into my own. “Wood is bests of all. Is only taking one touch to hurts them, no matter how bads is being hurt already.” He paused, his gaze returning to normal, and he tapped his chin thoughtfully. “This one is finding one thing interesting, and maybe you is also. Theys is not able to be touched by pure hearts.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Really?”
He grunted his assent.
That was an interesting bit of information. It would do me no good, there was no way in hell I would ever qualify as ‘pure of heart’—especially with the brand on my wrist—but it was something to tuck away for the future. Maybe I could use it someday.
I took the last mouthful of my sandwich and stood up, walking over to the work bench attached to one of the basement walls. My wands lay there, ready for me. I took off my wind chain, my strength band, and each of my rings, placing them all on the table with the wands. It was time to get to the real business.
I moved the rings and the chain to the side of the table, those had not been used and would be fine to leave alone for the moment. If I had the energy left, then maybe I could top them up. They had been used since the last recharge, but they were not in critical condition like the band was.
Technically, neither were the wands, but they had been used the other night and I wanted to make sure they were full to the brim. They were my most used foci and I didn’t want to be caught in a fire fight without working weapons.
I touched a hand to the necklace I wore—the focus Aidan had given me before the big fight at Tyburn Tree. It had been for strength, probably one of the reasons I’d made it out of that fight alive. It was long since empty now, but I wore it anyway to remember him. A focus someone else had made wasn’t meant to be refilled, not by the third party. It wouldn’t work right; it would be weaker than anything you could make on your own. Common sense dictated I get rid of it, replace it with one of my own creations, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to that insipid voice. It was the only thing he’d given me, it was something he’d poured a piece of himself into, and I wouldn’t let it go unless it was pried from my cold, dead hands.
I picked up the band and the wands and carried them over to the ritual circle. I walked the circumference of the circle, muttering the incantation as I went, before I stepped inside and snapped the circle shut with a measure of will. I felt the column rise around me and allowed myself a small sigh of relief.
It was always easier to breathe inside of a circle. The hum of energy died out, not conflicting with my own energy field any longer.
I sat cross-legged in the circle, placed the wands to the side, and held the band in my two hands. Taking in a deep breath, I reached within myself for the power of strength that I knew was there. It had been replenished with the food and sleep, and was waiting for me to pull it to the surface.
A part of my mind shied away from the action, protesting that it wasn’t ready for the pain that would come along with the experience, but I shut it out as quickly as possible.
“Vis,” I said, pouring my power into the band, wincing and resisting the urge to cry out as the power flowed out of me and into the band. It was painful, ricocheting through my arms and frying my nerves as it went. It wasn’t as bad as the fire would be, but strength was a big thing to pull out on its own. I focused my mind, concentrating on the cuff in front of me, and visualising it as not quite a cup, pouring in my magic until it was filled in.
I gasped as it finished, my arms felt numb and weak, and I set the cuff down on the floor in front of me. I loathed the idea of doing the fire wand next, but I knew that it would be better to leave the ice wand for last. It would hurt, of course, but it would soothe some of the pain that the fire wand would bring with it.
I picked the fire wand up off the floor, held it with palms facing up in front of me, and took a deep breath once more.
This time I reached quickly for the fire and yanked it up from my core, pushing it down through my arms as fast as I possibly
could. Like ripping a band aid off, I wanted to get it over with. This time I couldn’t keep the sounds of pain from escaping my mouth, as hurt as I already was from what I’d gone through that day and refilling one of my foci already—I usually tried to keep up with them to only need to do one a day so that I wouldn’t be overwhelmed. The fire roared through my arms, charring my insides and leaving me shaking. My cheek hurt, I realised I was biting down on it hard enough that I could taste blood. I forced my jaw to unclench and dropped the wand to the floor with a clatter.
It was full, and it had taken a lot out of me to do both. I had two more to go—my wand, and my ankle tattoo.
I picked up the ice wand, and continued.
I wondered if someone could hear my self-inflicted torture somewhere out there.
8
I stumbled up the stairs and out of the basement, staring longingly at my couch for several minutes. I debated just crashing onto it again, but there was something I needed to do before I could call it a night.
I needed to visit Aidan.
I inhaled deeply, squared my shoulders, and walked out the front door. The wards came down and went up easy enough, I still had enough magic in me that it wasn’t a trial to do that—if it had been I probably would have stayed in the house instead of risking getting locked out of my own haven. I walked around to the back of the house where Aidan was buried, and squatted in front of his grave.
His grave felt like a magnet, and I was metal, it wanted to pull me down. I obliged, kneeling on top of the plot and placing a hand on the tombstone. I felt the tears burning my eyes, brimming up and threatening to spill over.
“What am I doing?” I whispered, shaking my head. I wasn’t talking about what I was doing kneeling on my mentor’s grave—I had no idea what I was doing with my life, with the position I had claimed amongst the community, with the position Finn had all but twisted my arm to get me into. “I just…I need so much to have you here, to teach me how to handle this. I wish you could just swagger into Dudley’s manor again, tell him to get his vampires under control and insult all his henchmen. I wish you could tell Finn to fuck off out of this business, not that he would need to be in it at all if you were just here to handle it for me.” I slammed my palm against the tombstone, sobbing. “You left me alone here, dealing with all of this. You left me alone to pick up the pieces.”
I shook my head, sniffling and vaguely thinking about what a mess I must look right now. Did everyone else talk to those that had passed like I did? Was it almost a ritual for them, something they couldn’t go too long without or else they’d lose their mind?
I curled up on the grave, head resting on the ground nearest to the tombstone, and let the tears leak out of my eyes. I didn’t know what to do with any of this, but it didn’t matter right now. I had the night to myself. I never had known how to mourn, never learned the tools to process grief properly.
I suppose it’s OK to let it carve my insides to pieces.
9
I left the house early the next morning, heading out at the break of dawn. After I’d had a good cry, Fred had told me that Birch, Oak, and Hawthorn trees had been known to produce stakes that were especially effective against the Vampys, as he called them. I didn’t know if it was true or if it was the fact that people believed it was true that made it work, but I’d take whatever I could get. If nothing else, they’d be stakes, and that would hurt them no matter what.
It wasn’t difficult for me to decide to gear up this time. I’d been attacked and had panicked without my weapons, I didn’t want to be in that position again. So, I was the weirdo in the city with thigh holsters carrying two wands, and of course the runic rings, leather cuff, and wind chain. Thankfully, London didn’t have a shortage of occultists, goths, or whatever subset of people would dress weird. I was odd to them, but I wasn’t so far outside the norm that anyone would stop me. It was the large knife in my bag that I was nervous about; getting caught carrying what mundanes would recognise as a weapon wasn’t my idea of a good time.
I took the underground to one of the bigger parks in the city, and walked into a thick cluster of trees. I didn’t know if someone would see me trying to chop down branches from a tree—little ones—but I planned on first focusing on limbs that had fallen off on their own. Now, if someone protested me carrying them away…well, I’d deal with that when the time came.
I walked around the trees for a good few minutes, trying to figure out which tree was which and hoping that I would get it right. I’m not exactly a connoisseur of trees, OK. I had Fred describe them to me and could only hope that I would get it right.
At the end of the day, any tree will do, you just need to find one. I kept telling myself that, keeping it as a backup plan if I totally flunked out.
“Blair?”
I stiffened at the sound of my name, heart rate starting to increase. Taking in a breath, I forced myself to calm down and turned to see who was talking to me. I was surprised to see Shawn there, and I grinned automatically.
“Hey, Shawn,” I said, walking over to him.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, lifting an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side. He had an…odd look in his eyes. I couldn’t quite place it, it wasn’t antagonistic. Just, odd.
“Well, I didn’t expect to see you either.” I rolled my eyes and laughed. “What are you doing here?”
“I come here to walk, like normal people do.”
“Oh, and I don’t count as a normal person?”
He paused, his eyes trailing slowly down and then back up again as he took in my wardrobe. “You could never be normal,” he said, quiet and almost sounding like there was appreciation in his voice.
I blushed. “I’m going to take that as a compliment,” I said, turning around and continuing my walk through the trees. I heard him walking behind me, but that I had expected.
“You should. It was meant as one.”
There was that odd note in his voice again, I threw a confused look over my shoulder at him and continued.
“So, what are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’m looking for wood, duh.” As if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
He snorted and chuckled, and when I looked back he was hiding a grin behind his palm.
“Oh, don’t be a child,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“I mean, if you were looking for wood, why didn’t you say so? I can help with that.” He strode forward so that he was beside me, winking at me once he got there. I started to protest, but he waved a hand to dismiss it. “What tree are you looking for? I assume you’re being specific, since you’ve walked a good way in and ignored every other tree in here.”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, wondering if he was going to ask a million questions about what I was doing. Finn and I had never told him what I was or the kind of thing that put me into situations where he had to patch me up, and he was good about not asking questions. Most of the time. There had been a few instances where he’d pushed the issue, but he’d quietened down after we stood firm.
“Birch, Oak, or Hawthorn,” I said.
“Specific, then. OK, I can help with that too.” He walked beside me, though I slowed a half step so that he was taking lead for the most part. “What’s the wood for?”
“A project,” I said, glancing over at him to see if he bought that. I mean, it wasn’t a complete lie.
“Mhm,” he grinned at me. So, he probably didn’t buy it, but he was going to let it slide.
“A project that has you dressed like that?” He asked, glancing down at my thighs.
When his gaze lingered there for what felt like a moment longer than normal would have required I felt my face heat and I glanced over at a cluster of trees.
“Who cares how I’m dressed?” I asked, aware that I sounded a bit defensive. What did I have to be defensive about?
“Hey, if that’s your regular get up, I clearly need to spend more time around you.”
>
I looked back at him and he was smiling. I relaxed, my own smile reaching my lips.
Why did I care what he thought?
I forced myself to refocus on the task at hand. “So, trees.”
“Yes, trees.” He grinned, a triumphant light in his eyes. “Let’s get back to that.”
We walked on in companionable silence for a few minutes before we reached a grove of trees.
“Those are oaks,” he said, pointing to them. “Will that do?”
“Fantastic!” I said, speeding up to reach the trees. I took my messenger bag off my shoulder and opened it up, pulling out the large knife inside.
“Whoa,” he said. “That’s, uh, that’s an impressive knife.”
I grinned, looking over at him. “What, you don’t like?” I asked, lifting it up so that he could see.
“I did not realise you were the weapon carrying type.”
“Pfft. You’ve sewed me up on how many occasions? I’m lethal, Shawn.”
“That, I did know.” He smirked. “But someone has made a habit of requiring my silence in addition to my extensive medical knowledge. Even though she promised me a story.”
“As I recall, I did tell you a story.”
“Oh, yes, that fantastic tale of tripping and falling down a flight of stairs that somehow gave you a knife wound to the gut?”
“Hey, you said I owed you a story. I followed through.”
“I’ll remember to be more specific with my…requests, in the future,” he said, his voice somehow husky, gaze briefly drifting to my lips before he brought them back up to my eyes again.
I frowned. “You do that,” I said, turning to face one of the trees. It had a few low hanging branches, but not so low that I could grab without having to jump for it. “Hey, you want to help me?” I called.
“Sure.” He walked up behind me. “Am I cutting or jumping?”
I turned and looked him up and down, taking in his stocky build. He was about on par with my height, but built much more heavily than I was, even with my new muscles. My eyes hesitated at his chest, where his slight turn to the right as he looked at the tree caused his muscles to ripple in a lazy fashion. My breath hitched and I jerked my eyes back up, to see the rather pleased expression on his face.
