Chapter One-Hundred-And-Eighteen

Chapter One-Hundred-And-Eighteen
Ryder

“She’s finally sleeping.” Kelly emerged from the hallway and entered the living room, where we were edgily congregated.

We sat in my front room, which was more of a parlor than anything else, trying to examine the problem from all angles and devise strategic procedures for the inevitable.

Judo had tried to follow us home, almost succeeding, but the spells at the mouths of the street kept him from knowing our precise location, for now anyway. I doubted Holly’s spells would last the duration I needed.

The Council helped set up and reinforce the barriers, adding to the steps our Coven had already taken to protect Catalym. Without their help, I doubt our combined efforts would’ve stopped a being we were beginning to believe was a paranormal tank.

He was far more than we had ever considered, and Catalym was remarkably closed-lipped about it. Discussing Judo hurt her significantly, and she avoided doing so at all costs.

I couldn’t find enough vindictiveness within me to insist she tell me everything, to wound her more than she already was, whether it was prudent to do so. This wasn’t normal for me, and it could be a danger to my people, no matter what measures we took to avoid or see it otherwise.

When Kelly’s newly found Primary began adjusting to fit the current mood and trying to improve it, we all struggled to keep a straight poker face, with Marcus having the most trouble.

Given the unusual connection Marcus and Kelly shared, it was hard for Marcus to keep anything hidden from her. But on the flip side, it was the same for Kelly, and having said that, by all rights, he should have seen this coming.

“What have you two been gossiping about all afternoon?” Kelly demanded, placing her hands on her hips. Her head was cocked to one side in a gesture we both knew all too well.

She could verbally kick our butts at the drop of a hat. If we were not careful, we would receive an earful and probably more than just one.

“You remember how I said the converted are less powerful, not as defined as the born, right?” Marcus hedged in an almost mechanical drawl. He leaned back to recline on the couch, deceptively, the picture of ease.

“Yes,” she replied, but she didn’t move from her guarded position, which told me Marcus was already in trouble and about to get even deeper into shit.

“Well, it would appear you have a new ability to call your own. A Primary power, no less. Not just the general secondary power that the converted manipulate,” Marcus carefully breathed the words out. This was way beyond simply difficult for him.

He never tried to lie to her, but she couldn’t handle some parts of our lives. Now that she’d asked him directly, I could see the emotions warring in his eyes. He wanted the ability to do so now.

Kelly absorbed the barely expressed concept quietly. I knew they were speaking by the energy that sizzled across my skin, suggesting a furious conversation between the couple.

“…But you said this didn’t happen!” Kelly finished loudly, clearly exasperated and even a little hurt.

“Love, I didn’t know. This shouldn’t happen.” Marcus grimaced.

His timeless face is etched with deep lines. By her expression, Marcus had chosen the worst phrase possible.

Kelly was the only being I knew who didn’t possess a soul, making this business of having a Primary power much more laughable. She was metaphysically bound to Marcus because of all of this, and therefore, Marcus should’ve known, and indeed, before me.

“What is the power?” Kelly asked in a tired voice, moving to sit on the couch as far away from Marcus as possible.

It's a terrible sign.

“I believe you have some ability to project your own emotions onto others, sometimes. You must be feeling it yourself first, like this afternoon. You felt calm because I was there, and I projected that onto Catalym. At this time, the power is erratic and unpredictable, like it has just manifested, even though it feels like you have always had it,” he told her thoughtfully. “However, I know you have not. When you were one of them, you didn’t have any of our blood that changes how a human’s mind should work and gives them some of our gifts.”

“Weirder things have been known to happen in stressful situations,” Holly broached.

Holly liked the weird and way out there. He made it a hobby, knowing that normal people would never use such magic. But it was beneficial, as others had difficulty finding the trigger to the unusual spells, even the old ones.

“But she’s a convert!” Gene argued, much like we had earlier. Not that it would do any good; it wouldn’t change what was happening now.

“Be that as it may, Kelly is strongly bonded with a pureblood born, whose line has no human breaks to dilute it, tracing right back to our firsts. She feeds from him constantly, as he does from her. Don’t you think her blood is more than human by now?” Holly worded it so that even I was floored by his intelligent rationale.

How had I never figured that out?

“What does this mean?” Kelly glared at Marcus, a thorough raking that made him wince.

“Your status in our world just changed again.” Holly grinned. It was a complete oxymoron to Kelly’s scowl.

“Why can’t I just be ordinary for once?” Kelly looked away with a tortured expression. She shrugged off Marcus’ comforting hand, giving it a murderous glare.

“Now, little sister, this is a good thing. You could be formally moved to a purebred status.” Holly smiled when that got her attention.

“No way.” Kelly breathed.

Marcus nodded his wary confirmation, but she didn’t look at him to see it.

“Yes, way.” Holly laughed.

“Cool!”

In this underbelly of the more fantastic world, the purer the blood, the higher the position possibly obtained within our ranking. It could afford vampire privileges in the Coven and Council and among the other vampires in the community who looked down upon plain human converts. Something Kelly and Sara found out repeatedly since joining our Coven. Gene was no exception, but he’d grown up around us. His family had much of our blood running through his veins, and they were acknowledged as such.

“So where do we go from here?” Kelly asked. She didn’t speak about herself anymore, appeased for the moment.

“Protect Catalym.” I shrugged.