Kaitlin's Tale

by Christine Amsden

  Too bad Sara couldn’t be the ally he needed. Too weak. Not even a tiny scrap of magic before she’d been turned. And a bit clumsy, truth be told. Plus, her flesh host was a decade older than his.

  “Is he going to kill me?” Sara asked.

  “Probably not. If you stay out of his way.” He wanted to be king of the vampires; killing all his subjects would make that a challenging goal.

  “It seems so strange that I wanted to die just a few weeks ago. Now I’m scared to die. Is that the vampire in me? Or the human?”

  Jason shrugged.

  “I’m different,” she went on. “I don’t feel things the same way. Like when I was human, I was too shy to tell a man I was attracted to him or to make the first move. I remember that I felt something – mortification is the word I have in my memory – the one time I tried and was rejected. But I don’t know why I felt that way. Isn’t it more important to go for what you want?”

  Jason honestly didn’t know what she talking about; he hadn’t felt shy or embarrassed when he’d been human. But he’d heard about it.

  “I want you,” Sara added.

  “I know.” He’d suspected, at least. But he wasn’t sure if he wanted to complicate their companionship (friendship?) with sex. Or was that the human in him talking?

  “Just something to think about.” Sara walked away, letting her ample hips sway in a manner that would ensure he’d have to think about it.

  * * *

  Xavier was waiting for Jason at the front door when he arrived back at the safehouse, still picturing Sara’s seductive hips.

  “There has been an interesting development.”

  Jason worked to keep his face impassive as he stared at his sire, wondering what had him looking so... cheerful wasn’t the right word... intrigued, perhaps? Either way, it was such a marked contrast from how he’d looked at sundown that Jason knew he wouldn’t like this development.

  “What?” Jason asked. He moved past Matthew and took a seat on the leather couch.

  “Matthew Blair just flew into Alexander’s compound.”

  Jason could not hide his surprise. Matthew Blair? The head of the White Guard? The man working to unite the magical world against Alexander DuPris? What would he be doing visiting the enemy? Unless...

  “Maybe he’s given up and decided to join DuPris,” Jason said.

  “The possibility occurred to me.” Xavier slid gracefully into a leather armchair, making it look almost like a throne. “And it may happen whether he wants it to or not. Alexander is my most capable protégé, after all.”

  Jason didn’t let himself react to that one; it wasn’t a new story, but he didn’t know if he believed that Alexander DuPris had once sought out Xavier to learn mind magic before turning against him with the full might of the Hunter’s Guild at his back. It could be true. Alexander’s political ambitions might have led him to ally himself with the guild, and Hunter One wouldn’t have accepted an ally in league with vampires. Hunter One’s hatred of vampires had, in fact, gone so far as to run the guild into the ground – but Jason hadn’t truly understood that until he’d turned.

  “On the other hand,” Xavier continued, “if Matthew makes it out of there alive and mind-whole, he would make a powerful ally for us.”

  “Yes,” Jason said, though his mind screamed no. The only reason Xavier wasn’t already dead at Jason’s hands was that the evil vampire was also a powerful sorcerer – a mind mage. Xavier couldn’t read minds – Jason was pretty sure – but he could influence them. Jason had never even managed to lift a wooden stake near his sire.

  “Yes.” Xavier nodded. “This will be far more interesting to watch than Kaitlin.”

  Chapter 10

  YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, DON’T you?” Alexander asked Matthew as soon as they sat down for drinks in Alexander’s private study four levels below the earth.

  “Why don’t you tell me?” Matthew asked.

  He couldn’t read Alexander’s mind, of course, or detect any hint of meaning from his tone, posture, or facial expression. The man exuded trust me in a manner few could match, and Matthew had known some very charismatic people during his time in Jefferson City.

  “You’re me, thirty years ago,” Alexander said.

  Matthew sipped his ginger ale, deciding it was best not to say a word. He had amulets to help shield his mind and charms to help shield his body. He had a ring that would throw a fireball, although why he would use such a thing was beyond his understanding. He only knew that Clark Eagle had insisted.

  “I got started when I was about your age,” Alexander said. “I didn’t know what I could do back then, but I knew someone had to do something. The trouble with American sorcerers has always been their independent streak. They want to be left alone. Which is great until you start ignoring blood magic and slave trading so you can be left alone.”

  Matthew yawned and pointedly checked his watch. With anyone else, the gesture would have seemed incredibly rude. With Alexander, however, it was a part of their battle of wills. Matthew could feel the other man exerting his will, trying to influence Matthew, and it wasn’t going to work.

  “I know, I know, you’ve heard it before. But ask yourself, what are you for? You’ve been telling everyone what you’re against – me – and you’ve been coming up with some entertaining tales to back you up.”

  “Murder and mayhem,” Matthew agreed, lifting his glass in a mock toast. “What are you serving for lunch, anyway?”

  “Pork tenderloin medallions with a delicious white wine reduction sauce, a Caesar salad, and fresh rolls.” Alexander paused. “For dessert, we’ll be having ice cream.”

  “I like ice cream.” Matthew had said that to Alexander once before, and knew Alexander was paying a mocking tribute to the absurd comment. At the time, it had been all Matthew could do to keep Alexander away from generations of family secrets, some of which could easily have been destructive in the wrong hands.

  “I would of course, also love to know your family’s group memory charm. I don’t need it. I’ve got one of my own. Actually, I’ve got six of my own, but each time I learn a new one I get that much closer to understanding the underlying forces at play. Most spellcrafting is simply a mask for what’s really going on.”

  “I’d love to know where your other research labs are, but we don’t always get what we want.”

  Alexander was too good at the game to respond directly to Matthew’s statement. Even saying he didn’t know what Matthew was talking about would have lent credence to the idea that there had been at least one unethical lab doing experiments on magical creatures. Matthew felt certain there were others.

  “But you see,” Alexander said, returning to his original point, “I think you and I are very much alike. It took me a long time to figure it out. It’s not like you’re the only mind mage in the country. I’ve got half a dozen working with me, including one young man who wants to become my apprentice. I’ve given him a different mentor, though, because he’s not the apprentice I want.”

  Matthew wanted to ask who he wanted as his apprentice, but he fought down the urge, partly because he knew, but mostly because asking would be playing into Alexander’s hands. So he changed the subject. “Cassie and Evan say hi, by the way.”

  “How nice. I’m so glad they managed to work out their differences, aren’t you?”

  “Of course,” Matthew lied. He sensed that Alexander knew he was lying, but he felt he had the upper hand here. “Too bad you and Evan couldn’t work out yours. He’s really a good man to have around.”

  “And Cassie?” Alexander asked, arching an eyebrow almost mockingly.

  “She’s doing well. So’s the baby.”

  “Just like me.” Alexander chuckled. “Are you still bitter that she fought you off?”

  “I taught her everything she neede
d to know to fight me off. And to fight you off, for that matter.”

  “I doubt she sees it that way.”

  “You know what they say about truth.”

  “I do indeed. Which is exactly the reason I asked you here to see me today.” Alexander paused when he heard a soft knock on the door. “Come in!”

  The door opened and, somewhat to Matthew’s surprise, Kaitlin Meyer walked in. He knew her. Not well of course; they might have lived in the same small town where everyone knew everyone else, but they hadn’t had much reason to associate with one another. She had been most notable to him as a friend of Cassie’s, although he had noticed her once before, years ago when she’d still been in high school.

  He recalled that particular late night and her light flirtations with a small smile. She’d been too young for him and she hadn’t really wanted anything except attention, which he had gladly given her. They’d been alone in the diner when a group of drunk, underage witches and sorcerers had come in and started making trouble. Kaitlin had stood her ground, and he had admired her for that even as he’d wiped the incident from her mind as part of a never-ending effort to cover up as much magical mischief as he could.

  Her eyes had changed, he noticed when she glanced his way. They weren’t as light or flirtatious, even if the natural sway of her body created a similar illusion. She was a natural beauty, with long legs he couldn’t help noticing even when she’d been in high school and off-limits. But it was the eyes he noticed now, dark and dull, as if some essential spark had gone. He’d seen the same look in the eyes of recently drained women. They spoke of some deep sadness, possibly an echo of what the vampires had done to her. What had they done? And how had she ended up here?

  Her eyes changed when she noticed him. Her initial thoughts, as she walked into the room, had all been about her job – special order for Mr. DuPris and guest to be delivered with all due haste. This was going to make her late for all her other deliveries, which would probably mean some grumpy patrons.

  She was curious about the special guest. She found him right away, but it took a few seconds for her brain to accept what she was seeing. Matthew Blair. What the hell is he doing here? I thought he hated Mr. DuPris. And vice versa. In her mind she flashed back to the night when Cassie had broken free of his control, and her fury at what he had done – or believed he had done – to her best friend was not in doubt.

  Matthew winced, despite himself. He had been a beast that night. He had his reasons, but he doubted Kaitlin would understand. Even his own father hadn’t understood, in the end.

  “Do you know Kaitlin?” Alexander asked, apparently oblivious to the mental undercurrents charging the room. “She’s from Eagle Rock, a friend of Cassie’s.”

  Kaitlin started. Alexander knows my name?

  “We’re old friends,” Matthew lied easily. “Nice to see you again, Kaitlin.”

  She didn’t respond out loud. Don’t you try to pull any of that mind mojo on me. I know who you are now. And to think, I was so jealous of Cassie when I found out you were dating. He’s still good looking. Nice big hands too. And you know what they say about big hands...

  Matthew had to fight back a smile, both for her loyalty and for her blatant appraisal of his looks. Well, she wasn’t half bad herself, especially now that she’d stopped dyeing her long blonde hair. Why she’d ever chosen to cover hair like that with fake coloring, he might never understand. And those legs...

  “Kaitlin isn’t a sorceress,” Alexander said, “but her son has such potential that we welcomed her here. We’ve created circles of membership in the organization. It was Cassie’s idea. Kaitlin is in the outer circle, of course, but there are things she needs to know to raise a magical baby and we’re helping her.”

  Until you send my son to war against the vampires and get him killed.

  She was afraid, Matthew realized. He was a telepath, not an empath, but it was impossible to fully separate emotion from thought. He couldn’t feel or influence those feelings the way an empath could, but he sensed them as sort of a constant undercurrent. The images lying on top of that fear showed a midnight flight from vampires but she also feared the hunters who protected them from the vampires. Not directly. Not immediately. But she didn’t want her son to die the same way his father had and she didn’t entirely trust the hunters’ motives.

  There was something else, too. Something he didn’t understand at all. The walls are all decorated.

  He glanced around him, paying attention for the first time to the tropical beach scene adorning the walls. It was a beautiful mural that had obviously taken some artist a lot of time and care to complete, but that wasn’t what struck Matthew about it.

  Kaitlin didn’t see it.

  Matthew masked his reaction, not allowing a flicker of the surprise he felt to show on his face. But inside, his thoughts were spinning. She could see through illusions?

  It suddenly struck Matthew that Kaitlin could become an ally in here if he played it right. He hadn’t brought anyone along because he couldn’t trust that they hadn’t been interfered with; Kaitlin would definitely have a blood sample on file somewhere, but she was also part of this place. She might know things that could help him. At the very least, she was a familiar face in a sea of strangers and he suddenly, inexplicably, found the simple idea that he knew someone here comforting. Of course she hated him, out of loyalty to her friend if for no other reason, but he could smooth that over.

  This meeting with Alexander was not going well, and what Matthew had expected to be an in-and-out reconnaissance no longer seemed that easy. He might be here for days. Weeks. He hoped not months, but he couldn’t deny the possibility.

  “Do you need anything else?” Kaitlin asked.

  “Not right now, thank you.” Alexander flashed her one of his charming smiles.

  She slipped out of the room without another word or even a well-formed thought, closing the door behind her. Matthew stared at the place where she had been for a few moments longer, before mentally shaking his head, clearing it to resume his confrontation with Alexander.

  “The poor girl,” Alexander said when she’d gone. “We’ve got about two dozen women here without any magic, but most of them are empty. One of the men is usually happy to take her under his protection.”

  “I bet,” Matthew said.

  “Don’t sound so sarcastic. It’s the best thing we can do for them. It’s almost impossible to get their magic back most of the time. I’ve tried that approach before, and look what happened. It put us at odds.”

  “That’s what you think put us at odds?” Matthew laughed mirthlessly. “Come on. You stirred up a mob and got people killed. I was there fighting you, remember?”

  “I started with the big cities,” Alexander said, ignoring his question. “Do you know why?”

  “No.”

  “Because the most powerful sorcerers don’t usually live there. Instead, you get groups of weak sorcerers trying to make the most of their gifts, and occasionally you get one with a bit of power but no idea how to use it. These people were the most interested in hearing what I had to say.”

  “Because you promised them knowledge. You promised them power.”

  “Exactly. You’ve gone the other way. You’ve started with smaller communities, but you’ve already managed to turn some of the most powerful sorcerers in the country to your point of view.”

  “Scared?” Matthew asked.

  “No. But it doesn’t make any sense.” Alexander stood and headed for the table, where the two platters had been set. “Come and eat.”

  Matthew followed Alexander to the table, setting his drink down before taking a seat. When he removed the domed platter, he saw the promised pork and rolls. A second domed platter contained the salad.

  “It doesn’t make sense for you to thwart me,” Alexander said as he took his
own seat. “I know you. You’re me thirty years ago.”

  “You said that.”

  “We both want the same thing. Power.”

  “Is that what I want?”

  “Isn’t it? At one point you wanted to be President of the United States. What do you want to be now?”

  “King of the world.” He paused before adding, “Doesn’t everybody want to rule the world?”

  “No, everybody wants to rule his own world. Most don’t care what happens to everyone else as long as they get exactly what they want. But you knew that.”

  Matthew ran a crystal over his food. It didn’t grow hot, meaning it was safe to eat, so he took a bite of pork rather than respond to Alexander. “This is good.”

  “I’ll pass along your compliments to the chef.”

  “But there’s no ice cream,” Matthew said.

  “Perhaps I’m saving it for your good behavior.”

  “Too bad. I was really looking forward to it.”

  Alexander laughed. “Tough as nails. But you know what I’m talking about. You and I want the same things, and for many of the same reasons. I’ve researched your family. The ones who don’t go into politics tend to go into psychology. Why do you suppose that is?”

  “We’re all damaged and are trying to figure out how to fix ourselves?”

  “Could be. Or it could be that you care.”

  “Don’t let anyone know. It might ruin my reputation.”

  “No, it wouldn’t. You want power, and there’s no reason you can’t have it. I don’t have any children. My wife, God rest her, was barren, and I’ve never really gotten over her loss.”

  “I know, it makes a stirring speech every time you tell the story.”

  “Your sympathy is overwhelming.” Alexander took a sip of wine before continuing. “The point is, I don’t have an heir.” He paused, looking meaningfully at Matthew. “I’d like you to be my heir.”

  Matthew didn’t let his surprise show, but inside he was reeling. Exactly the reaction Alexander would expect of course, which gave him all the more reason to keep it carefully hidden. His heir? What was the old man thinking? Didn’t he know that Matthew knew things about him? It wasn’t just the experiments he had done on werewolves, or had done in his name. He had killed people. Conveniently, there were never any witnesses, but people who were a serious threat to him had disappeared over the years.