Chapter Seventeen
Neith
“T hat’s insane,” Van says, his expression showing how impressed he is.
“It’s got to have something to do with why my wings are different,” Raiden muses. “Although I was beginning to think that it might be because I had my magic hidden for so long, and maybe it warped or changed it in some way.”
Ransom shakes his head, “I don’t think that’s possible. Doc, on a biological level, could that happen?”
Doc pulls a face as he thinks about the question, “No, it’s not technically possible. However, just because something hasn’t been seen before doesn’t mean that it’s not possible. Although I do think that it’s unlikely.”
Raiden nods, “I never read anything about it, but I felt it needed to be questioned. Just like you said, just because it’s never happened before doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.”
“I do think that your ability to pick up flying combat must have something to do with your wings,” Ransom agrees.
“Are reapers not known to be good fighters?” I ask with a slight frown. I would have thought that they were some of the best.
Raiden’s eyebrows crease slightly, “They are in the sense that all creatures who are hated should be able to defend themselves, but most reapers have to put a lot of effort into training to fight. It’s not a natural ability for us. We’re good, but we have to learn it.”
I nod, “Yeah, I get that. So, the fact that you picked up flight combat so easily is not typical?”
Griff shakes his head, “No, it’s not. I haven’t trained with many reapers. They like to keep to themselves, I think other than Raiden, there was only one other one who would actually train with the rest of the flight class.”
“Wait, are you the only reaper at SID?” I ask Raiden in shock.
He nods, “Yeah. Reapers are almost always employed in reaper-only places.”
My eyebrows rise even further, “They really do keep you separated from all the other supernaturals, don’t they?”
Raiden nods, anger flashing in his eyes, “Yes, and that needs to change. Over the last forty years that we have been here, the number of attacks on reapers has gone up substantially, and it’s because instead of lessening the fear, the council has increased it. What I can’t understand is why.”
“It’s definitely something that we need to look into,” Van nods in agreement.
“Don’t forget the Melody thing,” Doc adds. “She is at a higher tier level than she should be. We need to work out how because I know for a fact that she has been using that to her advantage in order to hurt other reapers of a lower tier.”
“Shit, I had forgotten about that,” River says.
“Well, it most likely has something to do with her family pulling strings. Her Mom and Dad are on the council,” Raiden says.
“Your Dad is on the council, and your tier wasn’t changed,” Reed points out.
Raiden smiles, but there is no joy in it at all, “That’s for two reasons, the first is that I was very publicly shown to have a low tier . . .”
I frown and interrupt, “What do you mean?”
“I was five, nearly six, and he had me tested in front of all the important members of the reaper world. He thought I was going to be a high tier because of who he is,” Raiden explains, shadows darkening his eyes.
“That’s fucking awful, who puts that kind of pressure on a child,” I reply angrily. I don’t like the shadows that cloud his features, and I absolutely hate the way that he was treated and that his father was the instigator and not the protector that he should have been.
“What was the second reason?” Van asks curiously.
“He doesn’t care enough,” Raiden replies with a shrug. He doesn’t seem too affected by the revelation, “Melody’s parents care about her enough that they obviously didn’t want to put her through the shit that comes with being a lower tier.”
“That makes sense, I guess,” I reply. I refuse to feel sorry for her. She’s a fucking awful person and definitely deserves to be treated how she treats others.
“Yeah,” Raiden agrees. “So, what’s the plan for today?”
“I want to get a training session in,” I say. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in a fight, and I haven’t done any sort of training for a while too.”
“It’s been like a week, maybe two, since you were last in a fight,” Doc points out, his eyebrows rising.
I nod, “Exactly, it’s been a while. I need to keep my skills sharp.”
Van chuckles, “That’s some kind of logic. I’m not sure what kind of logic, but it’s definitely some kind of.”
“Thank you,” I reply primly before a smile takes over my expression.
“I’m going to go for a run,” River says. “It’s been a while since I have properly stretched my legs.”
“I want to practice more. My magic is instinctual and somewhat familiar; there is just a lot more of it, but my wings are still something that I want to carry on practicing with and with the weapons, too. I want to build up my stamina. So that I don’t tire quickly,” Raiden says. He looks at Griff, “Are you up for that?”
Griff nods, “Absolutely. I want to challenge you, so we’ll try two swords at once today, and we’ll see if we can throw in some of your magic, too. If you are able to use all three at once, then you will be formidable.”
Raiden nods, looking excited, “Yeah, that sounds great.”
“Do you mind if I come and help you guys?” Reed asks with an excited smile. “I definitely missed out yesterday, and since I rarely have my glamor dropped, it’s probably a good idea for me to practice, too.”
“That’s true. Everyone knows how strong you are, but you keep your glamor on for other people’s comfort. You don’t have to do that with us anymore, and you’ll need to use everything at your disposal in the Choosing,” Evander agrees.
“Ransom, do you want to come with us?” Griff asks.
Ransom nods, “Yeah, I could do with stretching my magic a bit, it's been unsettled recently.”
“Mine too,” Van agrees. “I think I’m going to go and work off some magic in the pool.”
“In the woods or in the house?” River asks him.
“The woods, probably. I think my magic needs to be connected to the earth better. Ever since what happened in Ireland and nearly getting eaten by the big fucking thing that I have forgotten the name of, my magic has been on edge, big time,” Evader replies.
“Yeah, my magic is doing a similar thing. That’s why I want to go for a run. I will come with you to the pool and then carry on around the property. I can check the perimeter while I’m out there. I know that we’ve got the strongest barrier most likely ever, but I would still like to check it,” River replies.
Doc’s eyes narrow slightly, “Out of curiosity, is all of our magic playing up?”
I am surprised when all of the guys nod that their magic is acting differently and not how it usually does.
“Well, that’s interesting,” I mutter. “Do you guys have any idea why?”
They all shake their heads and then look at Raiden to see if he has the answers that they don’t.
He shrugs, “I’m not sure. It could be that we’ve been under threat a lot recently and our magic has reacted to that.”
“Possibly,” Evander replies, “but we’ve been in dangerous situations and for extended periods of time many times before, and our magic hasn’t played up like it is now.”
“That’s true,” Reed replies. “But we haven’t dealt with someone who started a war, destroyed a realm, and is trying to mess with the natural order of things.”
“And the Choosing. We’ve never been threatened with something as magical and ancient as that either. It could be a mixture of the two things that is making our magic react,” Doc suggests.
“We’ll figure it out, just like everything else,” River says, as he stretches his arms above his head and winks at me when he once again catches me staring at his exposed stomach, I just smile in response.
“Agreed,” Evander replies, utterly oblivious to River’s and mine’s exchange.
“Did you manage to find anything out about the hybrid?” Ransom asks Doc, changing the subject.
Doc nods, “Yeah, actually we did. Using one of the things that I told you was time-sensitive, but I won’t bore you with the explanation of how it works. I managed to isolate things in his blood that shouldn’t have been there and extract them using a mixture of magic and science. I’m hoping that we’re going to be able to identify or break down what exactly it is.”
“That’s great. So if you manage to do that, then you might be able to reverse engineer something that could help any alive hybrids that we find and turn them back to normal?” Raiden asks.
Doc frowns slightly, “In theory yes that’s possible, but it takes time. A lot of time, even with all of the magic that we have, it still wouldn’t be possible to make it as quickly as we may need it. We can make it quicker than if we just had science, but it still takes a long time.”
“So, you’re not going to do it?” I ask curiously.
“No, we’re still going to do it. We have no idea how long this problem is going to go on for, and while I know that we all hope that we can get it sorted sooner rather than later. There are no guarantees that we’re going to be able to do that. It would be better if we were working on it and then didn’t need it, than if this ends up going on for years and we didn’t start the process as soon as we could. We would end up wasting time and losing lives that we could have saved,” Doc explains.
I nod, “That makes sense. It’s better to have something that we don’t need rather than have something that we need and don’t have. I mean, there’s always a chance that someone is going to think that what he’s doing is amazing and try to replicate it because people are idiots. So, even if we do get him soon, we may still need to reverse the effects of whatever he is doing to the hybrids.”
Doc nods, “Yeah, that’s exactly it.”
“Did you find anything else out?” Ransom asks, taking a sip of his coffee.
Doc’s expression becomes sad, “He was in an excruciating amount of pain. His insides were half-shifted, like his hands and features, and beginning to decompose. I have no idea how he managed to talk to us.” He looks at Raiden, “What you did for him must have been such an incredible relief.”
Raiden nods, his eyes sad, “A person has to go through an incredible amount of damage for it to affect the soul. That’s what those black smudges were on his ball of light that was his soul.”
“He had a lot of them,” Griff says. “Could you tell whether he had some of them before or if they were all caused by being turned into a hybrid?”
“They were all from being turned into a hybrid. Although I have no idea how I know that, it’s like the answer just popped into my head. It was instinctual,” Raiden replies, looking slightly surprised by his own answer.
“That’s cool,” I grin. “The instinctual thing, not the other thing.”
“It’s probably something to do with your magic being free. It’s allowing you more access to some of the instincts that have been suppressed,” River suggests thoughtfully.
Raiden nods, “Yeah, I think you’re probably right. It’s a handy new thing to have.”
Griff nods, “It really is.”
“Alright, let’s split up and get what we need to do, done,” Reed says, standing up and then looking at me. “What time are you going into town to meet the others?”
“I’m meeting them at Neera’s coffee place at two-ish, and then we’re heading down to Luke’s,” I reply.
“Luke’s?” He asks, sounding confused.
I remember that Doc and he had already gone to SID by the time that we had that conversation yesterday. So, I quickly explain the conversation that we had to them and why we’re going to Luke’s.
“That sounds like great fun,” Doc smiles. “Do you need a lift down there?”
I turn to Raiden, fluttering my eyelashes exaggeratedly. He narrows his eyes, his coffee pauses at his lips as he raises one eyebrow at me.
“What?” He asks, a smile playing around the edge of his lips.
“Could I pretty please borrow your bike again?” I ask. “I promise I will look after it and that I will buy my own as soon as we get some downtime, and by that, I mean that even though I know exactly what kind of bike I want to get, I’m going to need at least an entire day to immerse myself in all things bikes.”
Raiden chuckles, “Of course you can.”
“Thank you,” I grin, and then on impulse, and because they keep kissing me out of the blue, I figure that I should probably be able to do the same. I pull him down so that I can kiss him.
When I pull back, Raiden’s smile is huge, and his eyes sparkle like stars in the night sky.
“I don’t suppose you need to borrow anything from me?” River teases, heat in his eyes.
I shrug as I smile, “I don’t think so, but I’ll let you know if that changes.”
River’s smile widens further, “I’m going to hold you to that.” He pauses, and his smile becomes mischievous, “Totally unrelated, but if you start to lose stuff, don’t worry about it, I’m sure it will turn up.”
I burst out laughing along with the others as River just sits there, trying to look as innocent as possible and failing.
“You’re going to steal her shit so that she will kiss you to get it back?” Van asks.
“I’m okay with that,” I grin.
“I prefer to think of it as borrowing,” River corrects Van and then winks at me.
“Right, let’s get on with it,” Raiden says. “Come and find me before you go so that I can give you the keys to the bike.”
“Take your phone just in case you need us for whatever reason as well,” Griff reminds me like the mother hen that he is.
The giant, grumpy, sexy as fuck mother hen.
That’s a weird analogy. Thanks for that very strange image, brain. It takes me a moment since I’m stuck in my brain thinking about Griff as a chicken, to realize that I probably need to answer him, and he’s sitting there looking at me expectantly.
River
A s much as I would like to follow Neith to the gym and help her in her workout, mostly because I just like being around her in any capacity that she will let me, I can’t. I really need to get out into the woods and into my fur. Unlike most shifters, I tend to find it really easy to stay in my human form. I think it’s because I don’t keep the two sides of me separate. I am always using my heightened sense of smell, my claws, everything. I have been able to partially shift for as long as I can remember, and I think that because I hold the two halves of me so close together that I don’t need to shift, I do it because I want to.
It's not good for any shifter to go for any length of time without shifting into their other form, so I try not to leave it too long unless I have no choice. It’s only here that I am able to run with all of my tails free, and so I prefer to run while we’re at home, but I do love to fight in my kitsune form.
“Ready?” Van asks as he steps out onto the back deck and stands next to me. “Are you okay?”
I nod, “Yeah. What does your magic feel like? How does it feel different?”
We start to walk down the steps onto the large expanse of grass that backs onto the surrounding forest.
“Sort of twitchy and amped up,” Evander replies. “I know that sounds weird, but ever since what happened in Ireland and maybe even before that actually, it’s been different.”
“Most sirens don’t have any effect on the ocean do they?” I ask. I’m pretty sure that I already know the answer, but I want to double-check.
Van shakes his head, “No, it’s taught to us from a young age that we need to be really careful in the ocean because although we can still breathe and swim in it and use some of our magic, we can’t control it like we can control the rivers, lakes and any other water. The ocean has its own magic.”