What should one do in front of a very annoying, very childish, and very powerful mystical beast? My, whatever it wants, of course. Blood stains are SO hard to get off fabrics and carpeting otherwise!

Margaret Ortiz

I froze, my heart pounding, as I heard the smooth and mellow voice behind me, barely concealing its icy undertones.

“Don’t you know how to hide your energy signature? Whatever you’ve been doing, you’re loud enough to wake up the dead!”

I exhaled, straightened myself, and turned around. What I saw was certainly not what I expected.

From my mother’s descriptions I had this mental picture of a distinguished middle-aged man with my eyes and blond or grey hair, considering he should be over 45 years old.

What was in front of me was a teeny tiny bit different. The eyes were there allrighty. But the man in front of me didn’t look older than 25, with long hair of undefined color under the dust and dirt liberally sprinkled all over it, and a slender build. His tee-shirt and trousers were as dusty as the rest of his person, with a couple rips and holes adorning them here and there.

His features were sure to draw crowds of women of all ages wild in an angelic pretty boy way if one was to ignore the sharp and slightly cold golden eyes.

If I hadn’t heard that commanding voice or seen the eyes, even with my mother’s warning I would have thought I had found my long lost twin.

He stared at my face for a while, seemingly stunned.

“Maggs…”

Before I could move an inch, he was cradling my cheeks in his hands, scrutinizing me.

“You are not Margaret…her daughter?

Getting annoyed at his manhandling, I tried to pry off his hands without success. He was surprisingly strong for such a lean build. I glared, trying to convey my soon to be pissed off state.

“What is it girl, speak!”

Rolling my eyes, I tapped my throat with one hand, making negative gestures with the other.

He looked surprised, but at last released me letting me retrieve my writing tools.

“I’m Abigail Ortiz, Margaret Ortiz daughter’s, and yours if you are the Uriel she met 27 years ago.”

His expression turned cold and ruthless, betraying his sunny appearance.

“It’s impossible. What is your goal in coming here?Who sent you here?”

“Oh? Impossible? What did you think would happen when sleeping without protection with a healthy young woman? Bubbles and rainbows?”

A strong pressure started emanating from his figure, sorrow mixing with the anger. Flames shrouded his hands, leaving his skin intact but burning the grass wherever they fell.

“Don’t test my patience girl! I can’t have children with a human woman, which you would know if those who sent you here had briefed you correctly. You might be Margaret’s daughter but you can’t be mine.”

Sweat pooled in my back as I reconsidered the wisdom of poking the human shaped wasp nest in my line of sight. I gritted my teeth, scribbling one note after the other, throwing them on the altar.

“Where do you think my eyes and skin tone come from? You’ve seen many yellow-eyed freaks running around lately? We can do a paternity test too if you don’t believe me!”

“That way maybe we’ll be dissected in the same lab when they’ll compare our freaky DNAs”

I could see I had hit a nerve on that last one.

“My mother was two months pregnant when you left her, I was born in May of the following year.”

“I’m not happy to be here. From my point of view, you abandoned us. If I could, I would let you rot away for as long as you wanted. Unfortunately, I can’t.”

“Problem is I heal faster than I should, and weird stuff happens around me.”

“I don’t want my family or friends to get hurt because of me.”

“What are you, and what am I?”

A sinister smile curved his lips, his eyes harsh.

“There is always that way to know for sure”

He just …blinked... from his spot, reappearing in front of me. His hand shot on my forehead, locking me in place. An intense pain pierced my brain, followed by a strong sense of something else invading my mind. It felt ancient, as if time itself had forgotten it, and as vast as the ocean. If the owner of that mind had wanted, he could have just extinguished me on the spot like an elephant stepping on an ant.

I felt him riffling rapidly through my memories, mostly scrutinizing the events of the last few days and my interactions with my family.

Emotions filtered to me, weariness and a timeless grief tinged with fury at first, progressively replaced by surprise, hope, and finally a warmth I was far, far from sharing.

I harnessed my mounting anger, shoving it at the entity.

This is my mind! Not your personal playground!

I might as well have tried to move a mountain for all the effect it had. I could sense his amusement as he at last left my head.

We stared at each other, me glaring at him whit my chest heaving, and him contemplating, until warm laughter resonated in the clearing.

“Oho, spirited, as fitting of my daughter! By the way, I copied your sign language, so it’ll be easier to communicate in the future.”

“I hate you!”

“I’ll grow on you, like mold, but prettier. After all, I should have plenty of time to spoil my darling daughter. An eternity really.”

“No thanks.”

Wasn’t that guy a bit too mercurial? One second biting off my head and the next all chummy? It was hard to truly hate one with so much pain inside though. That bright exterior was probably just a disguise to hide his feelings.

“So the dream-walker that popped in my resting place last night was you. You were probably called by our blood ties, though we’ll have to work on your control. You also inherited my regeneration factor, and from what I sensed in your soul, you’re not a mixed blood, although I have no idea how this happened.”

“Care to stop beating around the bush?”

“You, my dear daughter, just became the most prized game in the whole world, considering you’re the only existing phoenix hatchling, and one of the two only remaining members of the race, the other one being yours truly. What I can’t fathom is how you got a nature’s god blessing on top considering they all left this world a long time ago. You might not like me, but you’ll need my protection if you want to grow old enough to fend for yourself.”

“Not funny, I think mom would have told me if she had laid an egg. Besides, last time I checked I was devoid of anything feather-ish, and I don’t plan on jumping off a bridge to see if I can fly.”

“Shapeshifting is always absolute. Our kind came up with that answer to hide in plain sight when the human hunters became too aggressive. Sadly, it wasn’t enough to save us, human greed suppressing all common sense. I’ll show you if you agree to not nitpick for…say…one day.”

“Half a day. I know my limits.”

“Nine hours”

“Seven”

“Eight hours, last offer.”

“Deal!”

“Watch and learn, my un-cute girl, watch and learn.”

If I had been waiting for a werewolf movie metamorphosis, I’d have been disappointed. Instead, as he got up his contour just blurred, and where a slender young looking man had been there was now the biggest bird I’d ever seen, towering over the trees. It had a curved beak like a raptor with feathers a light gold color, almost silver. The color darkened progressively along the wings and tail, ending in a dark gold shade.

Seeing a mythical beast in a dream was one thing, a real life one, and my father at that, was quite another kettle of fish.

“Turn back, what if someone sees you?”

He preened his feathers, “accidentally” bopping my head in passing.

“Come on, please?”

A beak almost my size nudged me under his wing. Small pale yellow flames danced playfully amongst the soft feathers. They were warm, but not overly so, not burning me when I accidentally touched one.

A full day extension on no-nitpicking time promise later, human-dad was back.

“You’ll be able to turn too once your power stabilize. For now, I’ll hide your presence, until you learn to do it yourself. It won’t stop the energy leaks, but no one will be able to follow them back to you. We have lots of work in the next few years to train you.”

Cold sweat formed on my brow at the sight of his ultra-bright smile.

“Years of training…with you?”

“Don’t look so depressed, I’ll take good care of you.”

“Can I decline?”

“Nope, I already decided. Oh, and I put a soul trace on you, for security purposes of course. I’ll always know where you are now.”

“…”

“Why did you leave mom?”

His face became serious again at my question. He pondered for a time, until I thought he wouldn’t answer me.

“I’ve been alive for far too long. I’ve buried so many loved ones I could fill graveyards. Human life span is so short, they grow old and die in the blink of an eye. Being the last source, I decided sleep was a good idea at the time, so I sent her away. I’ve been asleep since then, until a baby dream-walker decided to prod me awake.”

There were obviously lots of unsaid words, but I decided against insisting for now. I already had more than enough to think about.

“Shall we go back home?”

“…”

“Did I mention how much I hate you?”