1-12 E

“The rest of it is something people will overlook if you make it worth their while. Blood magic is – fuck!” Her face twisted and her wings fluttered. “I shouldn’t be talking about it, but I didn’t think stuff was that strict. Damn it. I can’t…”

She kept talking to herself, low enough I couldn’t quite hear. Her face would scrunch up and her claws would click against her spoon or dig into the table as she went. Sometimes she flinched like whatever she was trying to say hurt. She just slumped back into her seat before I could get too worried.

“I guess I can’t even tell you about it. Just – promise me that you won’t do anything with Blood. Please.”

“I can’t. It might be something I need to help Teresa. She’s all that matters.”

“Please. Pleasepleaseplease. I’m literally begging you, don’t.” She shifted to face me head on, not looking away from my eyes. “If you start going into that, I won’t be able to see you. And if you act like almost every other novice Blood-mage, someone will kill you, consequences be damned.”

“I…”

“Tammy, please. I don’t want you to die.”

“Ok. Okay. If it’s that dangerous, I promise. I won’t touch it unless I don’t have any other option.” The jittering now wasn’t all from the overload of energy. This wasn’t something okay for me to think about and it had to be showing on my face. “I can’t take risks like that while Teresa’s depending on me. I have to be alive to help her. It’s not worth it if someone would literally kill me for it.”

“Some people would try to put you down for less. Trust me, though; working with Blood will hurt more than it helps.” She smiled, a small thing that wasn’t enough to get rid of my frown. “For the rest, uh…”

“I guess a history lesson is the best way to explain what all you inherited and tell you what I know about your grandpa. I did promise to, after all.” She sighed and took another sip of her shake, wings stretching out before drooping again. “To start off with, he was old. As in he’s been a known player in the world for at least six centuries. A lot of people, including my mom, think he’s been around for wayyyyy longer, since there’s fragmented legends and records of similar people that just vanished going back significantly further. Living that long, he collected a lot of dangerous things that could kill even experienced mages faster than they could blink. Nobody knows how much of the terrifying shit is just laying around in easy reach and how much he destroyed or sealed away.”

“I know. I nearly got killed by some vampiric bone thing he had filling an entire room.”

She blinked. Apparently that was surprising? Maybe having murderous magic things laying around the house wasn’t actually normal.

“Uh, alright then. That sounds scary and I have no clue what it would’ve been, but it’s not what I meant. I wasn’t kidding when I told you earlier that people would be waiting to see if you got blown up or put down before trying to talk to you. Your grandpa was proactive in putting down insane and dangerous mages that nobody else would fuck with. People with the equivalent of WMD’s. He’d take their shit and it would never be seen again. Statues that drove everyone that looked at them mad. Knives that would rip out the souls of whatever they cut. Spellbooks with rituals that could siphon the life force of entire towns. Mirrors that spat out evil doppelgangers that bled shadows. Cursed coffins that would spawn undead plagues. He’d go into places that everyone else just avoided and walk out later, untouched, leaving behind rubble that was cursed enough to kill scavengers that came in after him. Maybe he destroyed those things, but they might still be sitting around where you could find them.”

“I…wow.”

“Yeah. That’s the shadow you grew up in. I don’t know how true it is, but they say that he fought the Vampire Dragons in the Swiss Alps a few centuries ago. Each one had sacrificed entire towns to ascend. Now they’re gone and the sky rains blood every time the moon’s full. It’s that kind of terrifying shit that people remember him for. The Archmage that used Blood to kill monsters worse than himself.

“I guess he might’ve been a good person and I can see why people would be afraid of me. But he still didn’t teach us anything.”

She finished off the last of her burger while I had more of the energizing ice cream and practically vibrated in place. Getting up and pacing during the conversation just didn’t seem right “He might’ve wanted better for you. Or wanted to wait until you were adults. I don’t know. What he worked with wasn’t for kids. Even if he was known for the Blood, his other practices were his passion. Necromancy and biomancy. Not something you teach a teenager.”

“I guess. I can see people hating me if they think I work with those.”

“Oh no, that’s not it. Well, not all of it. You’ve got his gifts in that area, affinity-wise. You might not actually have the talent for any of them, but you at least have the capacity for a lot of different schools. Necromancy and a few disciplines of golem-making only differ in execution, just like healing and biomancy. Bone isn’t absolutely necessary, but it’s the most potent gift for animation there is. Necromancers use it to reanimate things that used to live, golem-makers can use it to breathe purpose into something that never lived, and biomancers use it to make that wasn’t alive mobile. Your Flesh gift is another of those multipurpose ones. Biomancy is like…a necromancer that dabbles in healing, sorta. Or the other way around.”

“So a magical doctor, then. Something I’m definitely not qualified to do and that’s not likely to appease a Fae.”

“Maybe. Healers are more of the doctor sort, but I remember hearing about your grandpa badmouthing them a lot. Something about being uncreative hacks that don’t know what they actually work on. Biomancers are more anatomy focused, I think. It’s not a big discipline, since learning it tends to be the kind of thing that gets Hunters after you without an ethical master. Apprentices need to take something that’s already alive to make any changes. People like your grandpa could grow things like golems from just a piece of meat, though. Maybe even from the proteins and shit that go into meat, honestly. I could see a Faerie enjoying something like that. It’s way too complex for me, though. I only know that much from overhearing people either complain or compliment stuff from him or his last apprentice.”

“Of course he’d teach other people instead of us. This isn’t making me think any better about him even if he wasn’t as bad as I’ve been thinking.”

“Well uh, his last apprentice was like thirty years ago. While your mom was growing up. That Belmont kid that they kicked out, I think it was. It went for like a decade and ended like a year before you were born and she died. Whatever happened there changed him. He stopped really caring, almost. People don’t talk about it much. It’s like...”

The last spoon of ice cream left me even more hyper. My mouth moved faster than my brain as I cut her off. Something about all the energy going through me meant my leg refused to stop bouncing and my head kept shifting like it was on a swivel. My thoughts raced just as fast and I just forgot about the stuff about questions when I heard that.

“Wait, this apprentice was recent? And knew Mom? Could I find them? Could…”

The second I finished the first question, Alyssa’s entire body tensed. Her wings shivered and her eyes narrowed a little, her lips tightening back in a way that showed her teeth. Each one after sent a visible shiver running across her fur. By the time I managed to shut myself up her eyes were darting around, trying to look anywhere but me. Her chest was heaving with each breath she took.

Then she shoved herself up and her body blurred before she managed to take a single step. The illusion she put up was different from her usual one. Harder to focus on, more of a blur that my eyes kept sliding off of than a person.

“I – fuck!” The words were half-growled as she darted around my chair, heading to the door. She lurched towards me partway through then forced herself away. “Don’t do that!”

I’d only just managed to turn around to try to follow her when she got the door open.

She choked out, “I’ll… damn it!”

Then she ran out and I was alone.

~-~-~-~

I drove home like fifteen minutes after Alyssa left, taking just long enough to burn off enough energy to drive safely.

That look before she’d run hadn’t been like the other Sphinx’s. It hadn’t been hunger. I knew what it sort-of looked like, but not what it was.

The way she’d run had hurt. Especially since it was pretty clearly from my fuckup with asking a question. She hadn’t reacted that way before when I’d slipped up or almost done it. I didn’t know what was so different this time, but clearly something had been.

It wasn’t all bad, though. My head was clear from the stuff that had started all of this, but I’d been getting a headache from the lecture. Too much new information too quickly. Without being able to actually ask questions it was exhausting and too much like a lecture.

I’d only just dropped my stuff off in the bedroom and gone back into the hall with the week’s laundry when I got interrupted.

“Lady Blackleaf, an unregistered entity is approaching the manor.” Scully’s voice came without any accompanying visual, since Teresa and I had taken down the mirrors from it not long after moving in. Too much of seeing ourselves with bed head each morning. I probably needed to put those back up now that I knew Scully used them.

“Uh, ok? Can you tell me anything else?”

“They appear to be Human. Most likely female based on apparel choices and body structure, between thirty and thirty-three years of age. Approximately twelve pounds higher than the optimal mass for their body structure as recorded in the reference volumes maintained within your study and the wider Initiative network. They…”

“That’s enough specifics. Uh – anything relevant to who they are or who they might represent?”

“They are broadcasting credentials consistent with the most recent handbook provided to Initiative records for verifying agents sent by the Paranormal Incidents Division. As Blackleaf Manor is physically located within their nominal jurisdiction and the Lady Blackleaf has yet to respond to the last six messages they have sent, it is likely that they are a representative sent in person.”

…oh. Fuck, I’d forgotten to actually open or look at the things the government had sent me. My hand always burned when they showed up and I’d focused more on something that could help me find Tammy. The government that had standardized forms on how to cover up disappearances like this just…hadn’t seemed important, somehow?

Alyssa had to be right. All of this Fae stuff, it was messing with my head. I wasn’t that much of a dumbass usually.

“So they’re coming to the door, right?” I dropped the basket at the edge of the hall and ran over to the closest room with a mirror and started to smooth out my hair and clothes. There weren’t any visible sweat stains left from the episode earlier, but everything was still wrinkled. Scully still didn’t pop up in the mirror, at least not while I was using it.

“Yes. They will be at the door in approximately four minutes and thirteen seconds; their vehicle was parked right outside the outermost circle, in the demarcated zone for those seeking to speak with the Lady Blackleaf.”

So that’s what the little clearing right off our driveway was for.

“Do I have to talk to them? And could you sum up what the letters I didn’t read say?”

“There are contractual obligations inherited from the Lord Blackleaf. None, however, force you to speak with an unannounced guest. The only relevant stipulation requires them to schedule an appointment; no attempts to do so have been made.” Six unopened letters fell onto the end table I was standing in front of during her pause, each with a government seal on them. “Two letters seek to reaffirm the relationship between our Archive and their organization. One is a condolence letter addressed to the Ladies Blackleaf which provided contact information. Three contain various demands and falsehoods that blatantly ignore treaties and deals with the Lord Blackleaf and his heirs, in perpetuity, which are held on file in both our Archive and two other Initiative sites.”

“They…what?”

“The letters appear to rely on the naivete of the Lady Blackleaf to trust in governmental organizations that hold no legitimate authority over her accounts and actions. They violate seventeen separate provisions across four binding documents. All but three give the false impression that they and the entities they represent have a right to repossess artifacts, monetary goods, or other materials stored in various locations that rightfully belong to the Lady Blackleaf. All sites and possessions currently remain secured, with objections as to their efforts on file both with the Initiative and the relevant authorities. The lockdown that was recently lifted did not interfere with the security of the aforementioned sites, which have taken…”

I cut her off there. I really didn’t want to hear what I expected her to say. “The government tried to rob us?”

“A government attempted to do so, Lady Blackleaf. They have no jurisdiction on our activities within the holdings ceded to us, nor for any activities performed outside of their sovereign territory. Lord Blackleaf has acceded to several of their rules in the past on occasions where such was not necessary. I would suggest bringing this up to the individual approaching, reminding them that they have no standing to interfere in Initiative business or that of its’ protectors, which include yourself, due to their status as a signatory of our charter, and that any further communication must be made in appointments as prescribed in the Black Sky Accords.”

Her words had bite to them. More actual feeling than she’d shown before now, complete with the entire room darkening briefly as a cold breeze seemed to swirl out of the mirror. It ended just as suddenly as it had begun.

“Apologies, Lady Blackleaf. All I offer are my services and advice. Regardless of the path you choose, I would like permission to deploy preemptive countermeasures and deterrents to minimize interruptions of our personal business. The permission was rescinded approximately three months, eighteen days, seven hours, twenty-three minutes, and one second prior to this statement, coinciding with…” There was a sound like cracking glass and a dizzying wave that pulsed through the house and shut off the lights. The mirror was a sheet of writhing black in what little light filtered through the window and fell on it.

Then it was over. The lights clicked back and the mirror showed Scully standing in it instead of my reflection. She was still that unnatural grey, but her image seemed to have a bit more life to it than the last time I’d looked closely at her. The dress seemed to contour around something that was almost Human now and her hair seemed less limp and stringy. Her face moved as she spoke, almost Human.

She looked confused. Then scared. “…I do not know. I cannot remember. I...”

There really wasn’t time for this, but with the way the house had reacted to that, leaving her in that kind of mood wasn’t a good idea.

“Whoa, Scully, relax. You don’t have to remember everything. And you have permission to do whatever you think is best. You know a lot more about all this than I do, and I’ll be asking for help over the next few weeks to figure things out, but you don’t have to ask me about every little thing. Just let me know about anything major that you do, or anything that you do on my behalf, ok?”

“Understood, Lady Blackleaf.” Her face smoothed out into what was almost a smile.

“And call me Tammy, ok? If you can do that.”

The smile stayed even though he didn’t answer. There was no time to say anything more because the doorbell rang. She was still there in the mirror as I turned and ran down to answer the door.

It was on the fourth ring when I opened the door to see a middle-aged woman in a dark suit, complete with a badge in hand that she was just starting to hold up. “I’m Agent…”

I felt kind of bad about cutting her off, but I had to do it. After everything today, I needed to fucking sleep. Then I needed to work. Dealing with her wouldn’t let me do either of those, especially if what Scully had told me was true.

I decided to treat it like ripping off a bandaid.

“Look, sorry, but this is a bad time. I have too many things going on for this right now, and I’m not in any state of mind to deal with whatever you’re here for. I’ll be doing everything that I’m actually obligated to and nothing else. Whatever you want has to wait until you make an appointment, which I know you don’t have right now. My schedule’s full for the next few months, minimum. Maybe a year. Talk to my Archivist and go through the proper channels, whatever the Black Sky Accord mandates. I’ll give you two-weeks’ notice if I need to reschedule it. Until then, my time’s too valuable. Understood? Alright, bye.”

Then I slammed the door in her face and took a heaving breath because that was all one big run-on sentence and my lungs apparently still weren’t back to normal and it had left me gasping. The bell rang a few more times before she finally gave up and left me to recover in peace. Even Scully was still being quiet.

As stressful as the day had been, it had helped. I have a plan now. A way forward. Even an idea of what Grandpa had done and why people seemed to be so nervous around me . It was enough that, for the first time in days, I actually relaxed.

I fell asleep in my own bed a few minutes later. For the first time since I got back there wasn’t any dread or anxiety hanging over me.