“I don’t believe they’ll allow you to refuse,” Aaron told me, his voice serious. “You know too many secrets. Unless I’m mistaken, they’ll give you a choice of being bound or going back to Europe with them and losing your freedom. As your friend, I’m asking you to accept the binding without argument. As to how it’s done, there will be a cut to draw some blood, but other than that there will be no pain, though there will be some discomfort as the connection is generated and sealed. You’ll take an oath to not share the secrets of the Concilio with those who do not already know. You will not share secrets that aren’t yours to share. It will work now because Myrddin will call on the energy and power of every member of the Concilio.”
My thoughts immediately went to Lauren, and how I’d hoped to guide her without telling her. I didn’t know if this would allow for it, but couldn’t think of a way to ask. Bottom line, though, was if I wanted to be in her life, it sounded as if I needed to accept the binding. Intuition also told me taking too long to decide would look bad.
However, Abbott seemed to understand my hesitation, and he told them the entire story of her recognizing him, and what I’d told her. I really didn’t want Lauren brought into this, but I had to believe he knew what he was doing.
When he finished, Aaron told them, “I arranged for one of my people to get a position at her school, to keep her safe, and she hasn’t breathed a word about it to any of her friends.”
Myrddin spoke this time, and his words let me know they already knew of Lauren, though likely hadn’t known what Abbott had told them. “As an adopted child, we hadn’t expected her to show signs of her mother’s talents. It will be most interesting to see if this aptitude can be taught, or if it’s genetic, so I’m inclined to allow the mother some leeway in what she tells her daughter, so long as she understands the penalties for either of them talking.”
Yeah, life behind walls with the supernaturals, or death — whichever was most convenient for them. I knew the penalties.
“She’s aware,” Aaron told them.
Myrddin stood, walked to the bar, and asked me to join him. I did, and Aaron walked with me and stood beside me. When Myrddin touched me I realized he was a weredragon, like Aaron, which made Aaron calling him brother earlier make sense. I suddenly felt much better about this.
I’d done some research on the internet during lunch, and learned that when Geoffrey of Monmouth had written about King Arthur, he’d chosen to rename Myrddin as Merlini, which was later anglicized to Merlin. So, theoretically, Myrddin might be the historical Merlin, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to ask about it yet and now didn’t seem to be the time.
Myrddin produced a small blade, and Aaron held my arm up to him. I looked away and closed my eyes. I’m not good at this kind of thing.
“Is she going to be okay?” asked Myrddin.
“She’ll be fine, just get it over with.”
I felt the knife go in just below my elbow and felt my warm blood rush out. I peeked out of the corner of my eye and saw blood flowing into a glass held below my arm, and then Aaron pressed his thumb to the cut to stop the bleeding. Myrddin handed him a cloth, and Aaron wiped the rest of my arm while keeping pressure on the cut.
“My brother draws on the energy of the entire Concilio for this binding, and the pressure will be overwhelming,” Aaron explained. “It’ll be easier if you don’t fight it. It’s a completely different ritual and process than the one I attempted, and can be done on the strongest of the supernaturals. Relax and let it happen, you don’t have to wonder if it’ll work. It will.”
Myrddin then cut himself in the same spot on his left elbow and let the blood drain into the glass as if it were nothing. He put a cloth on top of the cut and bent his arm up to hold it there. With his right hand he swirled the glass to mix the blood — there were probably five or six tablespoons, not that much, really, but my arm still hurt like the dickens and looking at my blood didn’t help.
Myrddin put his pointer finger into the thick, red blood, and touched it to my forehead just over my third eye. Aaron told me to close my eyes, and Myrddin touched both of my eyelids.
I opened my eyes to see his finger back in the blood, and he touched it to both my upper and lower lips, and I had to breathe to keep from gagging, but the smell of the blood when I breathed almost made me gag, too.
His finger went back into the blood and he touched both of my ears.
“Hold your palms up, Kirsten,” Aaron told me as he adjusted his grip on my cut to let me. I held them up, though it was the last thing I wanted to do.
I wanted to run from the room and keep going, without looking back, but I planted my feet and stood still. I trusted Aaron, and instincts told me running out now would be catastrophic.
More blood was put on my palms, and Myrddin stepped back as I felt energy swirling around me.
“Repeat after me,” Myrddin said, his voice full of power. “I will keep the secrets of the Concilio, and of all the races therein. This applies to everyone except my daughter.”
I repeated it, and the room spun with the storm of energy bombarding me, and focusing on the spots with blood.
I had to focus on not gagging as I watched Myrddin drink the contents of the glass, and the spinning room certainly didn’t help.
However, Myrddin didn’t look disgusted as he swallowed, but looked at me with even more interest than before. I felt the spots of blood he’d put on me buzzing as if a violet wand was resting on them for a brief second, then
nothing
. The swirling energy was gone, and I wanted to sink to my knees, but I locked them and stood straight.
“I can find you anywhere in the world now,” Myrddin told me, “and if you attempt to break the binding, I’ll know immediately.” He turned to Aaron. “We’re giving permission for you to share secrets with her on an as-needed basis.
All
secrets, but only if there’s a need for her to know.”
I was seriously squicked by the blood on my lips, and not at all comfortable with the binding. “I’m assuming I can go clean up, now?”
“Yes,” Nathan answered, and I gave him a grateful smile. I still needed to invite him to lunch or dinner so we could talk.
One look in the mirror and I finally gagged into the sink. I turned the water on, but I’m sure everyone still heard me. I knew my face would break out if I used hand soap to wash it, but I couldn’t see any other options at the moment. I’d taken my purse in with me, so I fished for a ponytail holder, pulled my hair back, washed my hands first, and then pumped more soap, closed my eyes, and washed my face.
I had zero make-up with me tonight, so I only looked in the mirror long enough to be sure I had all of the cosmetics off. Only those who’ve slept with me and still been around the next morning have seen me without makeup, but I was determined to hold my head high and not be embarrassed. These men were ancient, they’d probably seen women before makeup had been invented. Except for Randall and Nathan, but…
whatever
. I couldn’t change it, so I’d have to live with it.
The group looked at me as I walked back into the room, and I took the opportunity to tell them, “I have some questions to ask. Now that I’m bound, perhaps I can get some answers?”
Abbott laughed and told me, “I’d have been surprised if you didn’t. They may or may not answer, but you can ask, I’m sure.”
I looked at Myrddin. “The Concilio is some sort of interspecies council, right?”
“Yes”
“How many species are there?”
“I don’t know the number, there are many, but some species are only a few, or perhaps a few dozen.”
“More than fifty species? More than one hundred? More than one thousand?”
“More than one hundred, certainly. Possibly more than a thousand, but I doubt it. The number is a good bit higher than a hundred, though.”
“Are you the historical Merlin?”
Everyone in the room froze, and Myrddin’s face was completely blank as he looked at me in silence for a good fifteen seconds. Finally, he said, “When our Concilio business is finished I will stay to visit with Aaron for a day or two. I’d prefer to answer personal questions at a later date in a more private setting, if you don’t mind. For now, we will answer questions concerning Concilio business.”
“Thank you, I look forward to spending some time with you and Aaron. Where in Europe is the Concilio headquartered?”
“We move around every so often, right now we’re in Italy. We also own an island on the Mediterranean Sea, and it’s been in our hands for many millennia.”
“Am I in danger of other, I don’t know what to call them, beings-that-used-to-be-gods coming after me?”
“After you killed Surtr singlehandedly? No, we do not think so.”
“Is there a question you expected me to ask that I have not?”
“Yes, but since we don’t have an answer to give you, it’s probably best not to bring it up. We do have one request of you, though. We’d like our people to examine your blood to see if they can pick up on something other-than-human. In order to do so, we’ll need about six small vials of your blood to take back with us. Would you give us this?”
I looked at Aaron and he asked Myrddin, “Do we have your word the blood will only be used for the identification purpose you speak of?”
Myrddin looked at Apollonius and then back to Aaron before saying, “You have our word this is the intention of taking the blood, but we need to be honest and tell you we’ve had problems with our internal lab, so I don’t feel comfortable giving total assurance.”
Aaron looked at me, his voice more formal than usual. “My counsel is to politely turn down this offer until we can get you personally to the lab, or the lab can come to you, so we can oversee the activities and be certain your blood does not land in the hands of someone who might mean you harm, or someone who might wish to control you.”
I looked to Myrddin and Apollonius and told them, “What he said.”
The meeting broke up not long after, and there was a little bit of the social networking that happens after meetings where people talk to each other.
Bran asked if he and I could have lunch one day the following week, I told him I had an hour and a half break between appointments on Tuesday, if he’d like to meet me near my office somewhere for lunch. He said that would be great. I just hope he isn’t planning to give me whatever proposition Abbott said he may give me.
Aaron and Myrddin talked to me a bit later, and we made arrangements for me to meet with them Monday evening. I’d need to text Master James and tell him I couldn’t meet with him this week. Aaron knew what I normally did on Monday, and when I made the offer, he said, “Thank you. I want the two of you to spend as much time together as you can, while he’s here. I hope you can become friends.”
Nathan caught me as I was coming back from the bathroom, his hand resting on my arm as he asked, “I know you keep a busy schedule, but perhaps you and I can have dinner one evening while Lauren is at rehearsal?”
“I’ve been meaning to get with you about us having lunch or dinner, so I’m glad you asked,” I told him with a smile. We looked at our calendars and set it up for Wednesday evening, and I look forward to becoming friends with him, but I hope he explains why he detested me so much, at first.
Randall is the only one who didn’t approach me about doing something with him sometime soon, but I’m guessing it won’t be too long until he’s asking me for that “spar with lunch afterward” I mentioned I’d be willing to do.
And Abbott. I don’t know what to do about the Master Vampire. I guess we just keep going the same direction we are now and see what happens. I haven’t completely fallen for him, but I can see it happening if I’m not careful. However, with the knowledge he can never give me all of him? I’m not sure how I feel.
Abbott walked me out to my car and gave me another toe-curling good night kiss, though, reminding me why I wasn’t tossing him to the curb.
And then I headed home to my family, a vase with the ashes of a god on my seat, and my thoughts on Mordecai. I still hadn’t spoken with him since Surtr cut him in half, and hoped Mordecai would agree to stay in town and continue to teach me. I’d turned him down when he suggested he could expand my capacity in a possibly more pleasant way than Aaron, but the more I considered it, the more I wondered why I’d done so. Sure, he was awe inspiring and larger than life, but if he could help, shouldn’t I let him? I’d wanted to kneel at his feet when I first met him, was this why I was reluctant to submit? Or was it because Aaron had warned me he doesn’t use safewords, or negotiate for how much power he would gain in the exchange? I wasn’t sure, but thought it warranted a conversation with Mordecai, at the very least.
I put all thoughts of the supernatural out of my mind as I turned into my driveway and prepared to go in and see my family. The most important person in my life is Lauren, and she met me at the door with a hug, full of excitement as she told me the boy she liked had asked her out on a date.
We started making plans for what she’d wear, and I once again remembered my dad cleaning multiple guns on the living room floor when my dates picked me up as a teen.
Mine were probably due for a good cleaning.
The End
Coming soon
–
The Dragon King
, book one of the
Chattanooga Supernaturals
, a new paranormal romance series, and sister series to the
Only Human
urban fantasy books.
Keep reading for an excerpt.
ABOUT CANDACE BLEVINS
Candace Blevins is a southern girl who loves to travel the world.
She lives with her husband of 17 years and their two daughters. When not working or driving kids all over the place she can be found reading, writing, meditating, or swimming.