Wulfric

Glenna's voice led a chant in a language I couldn't follow, and for a good minute and a half, nothing happened. I was starting to feel foolish, standing in a circle of salt while a woman spoke in tongues next to me and bracing myself for a danger that didn't seem to be coming when a tingling started in my fingertips. It was faint at first, but soon it felt like my recollection of what it was like to be burningly cold.

Once the sensation grew stronger, it was quick to travel up my arms and into my chest, where it spread quickly throughout my body. Every part of me was the stinging kind of burning, and all of my joints ached. My legs trembled so much, I no longer trusted them to hold me up. Even the feel of eyes watching me wouldn't have kept me upright; the only thing that made me hold firm rather than dropping to my knees was the fear of what would happen if I accidentally disturbed the salt circle surrounding myself and Glenna.

In this state, it was hard to focus on anything else. Glenna's voice faded into a murmur in my mind, easily dismissed. I don't know how long my eyes were shut before I realized I'd shut them. My fingers tried to clench against the pain, but felt too weak to accomplish even that much.

Just as a pain started ratcheting up in my head, badly enough I had to clench my teeth against a scream, it all...

Stopped.

Or, the pain did. The weakness remained, and intensified until I truly couldn't prevent myself from falling to my hands and knees. I had no idea if I was even inside the circle anymore, and I couldn't bring myself to care.

"Wulf!"

There was a chorus of voices in the background, all speaking indistinctly except for the one shouting my name. I was eased onto my side with surprising strength, or maybe Edmund's arms only felt stronger because I was so very weak in that moment.

"What did you do to him?" he demanded with a fire I had scarcely heard in his voice before.

"He'll be fine," Glenna answered in her usual soothing tones. For once, her voice did nothing to comfort me.

Freezing hands pressed against my forehead, then my cheek. "He's burning up!" Edmund said, sounding more hysterical than angry now.

"Don't worry-"

"No!" Edmund cut her off. "You don't understand. He's a vampire. He doesn't get warm."

"We don't have time for this," someone said. It was a man's voice. Roderick?

"Let me see that." Safiya. That had to be her, because it wasn't Glenna and Safiya was the only other woman present.

Paper rustled, and I realized my eyes had shut again. Opening them took massive effort and I almost gave up until my addled mind somehow recalled what we were trying to achieve here.

I opened my eyes and found that I was leaning heavily against Edmund's side. "Let me see that," I said, holding out my arm for the map.

Safiya passed it over, and the paper left deep red smears on her fingertips. Blood? I reached out with the faint tendrils of my sapped power and confirmed that it was. Not only that, but the blood on her fingers was my own, though I was certain I had suffered no wounds during the spell.

And when I got a look at the map, I couldn't hold in a gasp. It was a map of the world, a rather large one. It was bespeckled with more of my blood. In some places, the paper was saturated with great splotches of it. Others were tiny flecks that would be hardly noticeable if I didn't have a particular affinity for blood. My throat ached with a hunger I shouldn't have felt for another day or two at the loss.

"What is the meaning of this?" Edmund asked, sounding horrified.

"What did you expect from blood magic?" Safiya asked. "It wasn't going to be pretty." She wiped the blood from her fingers onto a handkerchief her husband provided to her.

"But what does it mean?" Arlo asked, leaning over my shoulder to get a look at it.

"This map shows your relatives. Anyone with enough of a relation to you to trigger the spell," Glenna said. "I tried to make it go far enough to only find first cousins, but the spell got away from me a little. You're much stronger than I accounted for, and that kind of power is like gasoline to a fire when you're working blood magic."

That gave me an idea that made a sick kind of sense and had my stomach roiling. "Was my power used to fuel the spell?" I asked. "Is that why I feel this way?"

Glenna hesitated and bit her lip. Safiya sighed at her hesitancy and said, "Yes."

"Damn," Arlo said.

Damn, indeed.

"You should have warned us," Edmund said, sounding upset again. I was glad he was here to stand up for me, since I was currently so incapable of doing it, myself.

"What would it have changed?" Safiya asked. She didn't wait more than a beat before continuing, "Look, we don't have time for this. This map isn't going to stay accurate for long. We need to start finding the people marked on the map before they move too far."

"How are we supposed to do that?" Luin asked, coming over and peering down at the map in my hands. I didn't like having a powerful stranger looming over me when I was so unable to defend myself. It was only slightly comforting that he was paying me so little attention. "Some of these locations are broad."

"The size of the blood splatter indicates the number of relatives in one area," Roderick explained. "Don't worry, Glenna, Safiya, and I can trace the spell and find a more precise location. Glenna will stay here to direct you and Fen while the rest of us search. No one goes out alone. There's safety in numbers"

He quickly assigned everyone into teams except for myself and Glenna. I was weak as a kitten, so I couldn't argue with him even though it rankled me. The pairs were: Everett and Safiya, Felix and Roderick, Fen and Arlo, and Luin and Edmund. Only, Edmund took on an angry glint to his eye and a hard set to his jaw that indicated one of his rare fits of stubbornness. They didn't happen often, but when they did, he was immovable.

"I'm staying here," he said.

"Eddy, come on," Safiya cajoled.

"Don't call me that! And you can't expect me to leave my brother like this."

"I'll be okay," I said, though I knew how pointless an argument it was.

"No, I'm not going."

"But someone's got to go with Luin," I pointed out.

"Well, it won't be me."

It seemed worry over the blood spell had pushed him to his limit. I shook my head helplessly at Roderick, who sighed. "Is Arrowan available?" he asked Luin.

"Yes, I'll stop at home and pick him up before venturing out," Luin assured him.

"Then it's settled."

They poured over the map and people started disappearing in pairs to go see who my relatives were all over the globe in the hopes of finding someone who could locate Benedict. In the end, it was a good thing that Edmund stayed with us, since he was able to steer the search parties away from some locations. For example, the city where Edith's children lived. He also pointed out a town I hadn't seen in a generation, where our nephew had lived. He was the child of our next-eldest sibling after Edith, Irving. I thought I heard he passed away a few years back, so it must be his children the map was picking up on. It seemed the spell had been considerably more powerful than Glenna intended.

With Edmund's help steering search parties as they returned only to set out again, everyone was able to make good progress working through the map. Two hours in, there were only a few places left to check and still there was no hint of anyone who could help us find Benedict. The relatives thus far were all descendants of my siblings, who were more prolific than I'd realized.

I had relocated to lounge on the couch while Edmund and Glenna were set up in the dining room with the map spread out in front of them. She had a steaming mug cupped in her palms and she was listening attentively as Edmund explained to her what it had been like living through so many changes from when we were human. She was especially fascinated to know how we felt about technology.

The conversation was completely uninteresting to me, and I tuned it out. Instead, I held my phone in my hand and stared at the contact sheet Fen had implored me to enter. My phone had very few numbers that weren't for family, and the ones I had all followed the same format: a first name and last name listed, as well as where I knew them from in the Company line since I was apt to get people mixed up without the extra reminder. But Griffin's entry was much simpler. Just his first name and his phone number.

I still hadn't used it, but I knew I couldn't put it off forever. The werewolf was already being remarkably understanding about my situation from what I'd gathered about his species. He had provided his phone number almost a week ago now, and I didn't trust him not to come find me if I didn't use it. You can't trust a person you don't know.

I clicked on the message button and even as I typed a simple missive, I comforted myself with the knowledge that if this went badly, I could blame my poor judgment on the lingering side effects of blood magic. If this was what a spell felt like when it went right, I didn't want to know what happened when it went wrong.

"Hello. This is Wulfric."

Before I could think better of the message, I hit Send.

A commotion started in the direction of the magic shop, and I sat up on the couch despite the awful dizziness that made my head swim and my vision darken when I did. Standing was entirely out of the question, but maybe it was a good thing I was sitting down when I saw who had been brought here, seemingly against his will.

"Unhand me!" my father demanded of Arlo, who grimaced but held fast as Edmund rushed into the room, then froze at the scene unfolding there.

It was impressive Arlo had managed to subdue my father at all, since my father possessed all the inhuman strength of our kind, while Arlo did not. He and Fen had probably caught my father by surprise and snatched him away before he realized what was happening. And judging from the blistering fury apparent on my father's face, he was seconds away from violence.

The expression made my stomach roil. That was not the man who raised me. My father had always been peace-loving and a true family man. He wouldn't have abandoned his children for anything. He wouldn't have glared with such malice at his great-grandson, and he would certainly not have said, "Who do you think you are?" to him, because he would have recognized Arlo right away.

"Dad," Edmund said, freezing my father in his tracks.

"You're behind all this?" my father asked, all that anger melting away in the face of his confusion. Then his dark eyes searched the area until they landed on me, and he sagged. "I should have known."

My father examined me, and I watched as his brows drew in. "You're not human," he said. It came out like a question.

"No."

Dad's eyes darted between myself and Edmund, then cast onto the rest of our small party. Everett and Safiya had arrived sometime while my attention was diverted. Arlo seemed to have forgotten he still held Dad's arm, and he dropped it with a blush. Glenna hovered in the doorway looking like she didn't quite know what to do with her hands, which clenched and unclenched on her skirts.

"What is the meaning of this?" Dad asked, taking another wary look at those who were strangers to him before slowly walking toward me.

It was evident he was wary of being surrounded by so many unfamiliar faces, and if I was to explain the situation to him, I would also prefer some privacy.

"Is there a room we could use?" I asked Glenna.

She smiled warmly and said, "Yes, of course. The office should work. First door down the hall on the left."

Edmund came to help me to my feet, and I studiously avoided meeting my father's eyes as my brother braced me up for the short walk to the office. "Arlo, you're coming," I called. I was sure Dad would prefer to be with just myself and Edmund, but Arlo was family, too, and I thought he had a right to be in that room.

Dad made a small noise of complaint, but we all ignored it as the four of us settled into the office. There was just enough seating for everyone, thankfully. They must use this room for meetings from time to time.

"Dad, this is Arlo. He's Edith's grandson," Edmund said. "Arlo, this is our dad."

Dad looked at Arlo like he was seeing a ghost, and I watched his throat work in a swallow. His eyes searched Arlo's features and I thought I detected just a hint of softness before they squeezed shut and he turned his head away. "What's all this about?" he asked.

Edmund and I exchanged looks. "We're trying to change the curse," Edmund said.

"We've been working with a family of witches to find a way to keep me from turning human."

Dad smiled ruefully. "I should have known you'd try something like this." He shook his head almost fondly and said, "It's a nice thought, but there's no changing the curse."

How could he be so certain? "You don't know that," I said.

But he shook his head again, sadly this time. "I do."

"We just need to find Benedict, or maybe one of his descendants," Edmund tried explaining, and these words shuttered my father's expression completely. He stood and spun away, pinching the bridge of his nose and taking in several deep breaths.

"You always were a stubborn one," Dad said. I knew he was talking to me. Edmund was too generous and understanding for true stubbornness. He always understood other people's perspectives and was inclined to give in to them rather than dig in his heels.

"Benedict is dead," Dad added before I could get a word in. "He's dead, and his descendants won't be able to help you. The magic that binds the curse set long ago. There is no changing it. Don't you think I would have done it by now?"

Edmund frowned at me, and I frowned back. I had no idea what Dad was talking about.

He whirled to face us. "I know you won't drop this until you understand, so listen well. Benedict's magic fueled our curse, but I guided it, and with Benedict gone... there is no changing the terms."

"You?" I asked. It was the only word I seemed capable of getting out. Or not. "But, why...?"

Dad snorted derisively. "Why, what? Which one of my mistakes do you want to come to light?"

I had so many questions for him, but Edmund spoke before I could. And he asked the most important question. "Why did we have to lose our mother?"

"I thought I understood what I was doing," Dad said, finally returning to his seat. "I was so eager to gift our family with immortality, and Benedict was so certain he could help us achieve it. We were fools. The spell was cast using blood magic. Your mother is not of my blood, so she remained human."

That made a terrible sense. "And the terms for the breaking of the curse? Why set them?" I asked, feeling sick. I always assumed Benedict had cursed us on his own. I never once suspected my father could have been involved.

"There has to be an out. No spell will bind without a way of breaking it. We tried to make it as positive as we could. Only you can give up your immortality, and only if you wish it."

I shook my head. No. I had seen the curse play out so many times, and it had never been about my siblings wanting to be human. They met their soulmates and humanity was forced on them. Love made them human, not their own desires.

"What do you mean?" Edmund asked.

"Are you trying to suggest they all chose humanity?" I asked derisively. It was a preposterous notion.

Father nodded grimly. "I never imagined they would so easily give up the gift I worked so hard to bestow upon us all. But they did, one after the other."

No. My siblings never had a choice. They didn't leave us on purpose. They wouldn't have...

Edith wouldn't have left me and Edmund for a man she just met. She wouldn't. Not even if he was her soulmate.

It couldn't have been a choice.

I wasn't sure whether the churning of my stomach was from the lingering affects of blood magic or from my father's words.

My father knelt in front of where I sat, his eyes full of intensity. "I should have known you'd be different. You can stop this, Wulfric. You can make a different choice."

I stared at him while my mind worked to assimilate what he was saying. "You're saying that I can be with my soulmate and remain as I am, if I so choose it?"

"Yes." My father's voice was emphatic. It was pleading.

Could it be so simple? I only had to want not to be human, and I wouldn't be? My phone buzzed and I pulled it out to absentmindedly check my notifications.

The display read, "Griffin: Hi, Wulfric. Can we talk?"

I smiled at my screen and felt decades worth of worry lift from my shoulders. I sent back, "I'll do you one better. Let's meet."