Prologue
I slept. I had never been one for fanciful thinking, for dreaming about what might have been, but in my rest my mind wandered down old roads, long forgotten and buried. I hadn't thought about my years as a teenager in quite some time, but tonight my dreams seemed to be forcing me towards that part of my life. After DuMorne and Elaine had died I had spent a year or two on the run before finally being apprehended by the council. It was a part of my life I'd never been especially proud of. With everything that had happened and all the suspicion I had dabbled in some of the darker aspects of magic, and I'd brought a small coven of fairly powerful teenagers in a town called Chance Harbor down the left hand path along with me.
After being around Ebenezar for a few years and learning what to do and not do with my magic I got a firmer grasp on right and wrong. I'd always really regretted the way things turned out in Chance Harbor before the council got me, they'de dragged me away at a crucial point and Donald Morgan had been plenty willing to inform me of the deaths of some of my friends. I'd failed them when they needed me most, and I'd never been quite willing to go back to face the ones left standing. To see the disappointment on the face of little Charlie, who had always idolized me, or the blind trust in the eyes of Dawn Chamberlain, who had never kept her interest in me a secret and wouldn't hear a word against me. But I think what would've really broken me was seeing the look a betrayal in Amelia's beautiful eyes.
I had been so lost when I got to Chance Harbor, just a stupid kid with lots of power and a whole bag of chips on my shoulder. The others had taken to me immediately, sensing my power and being able to tell that even with their little spell books, DuMorne had taught me more about how magic worked than any of them had known. But at that point I didn't know how easy dark magic was, especially for someone like me. It almost made me wish my father had told me the truth about his family, and what being Balcoin really meant. I had started to tap into the part of my power more fully when the council finally caught me, and though I'd never admit it I'll always be grateful to them for finding me before I'd lost myself in the magic.
I exhaled heavily and stared at the ceiling, the dreams had brought up so many memories. I'd been having them for a few nights and I couldn't help but allow my mind to drift back to my time in Chance Harbor. I had been sort of happy there, before the creeping insanity of my dad's family had set in on me. I think the part of those days I missed most was Amelia, she was beautiful and sweet and bright and charismatic. The shining blonde hair and the assertive personality had given me a bit of comfort, reminding me of Elaine. Before I knew it, Amelia was the person I thought of when I went to sleep at night, I didn't see Elaine standing over me with a blank face, I saw Amelia with a bright sunny smile spilling across her adorable features. I hear DuMorne screaming as he burned alive, I heard Amelia's sweet silvery laugh.
It hurt for me to remember what things had been like before I messed them up. My power had gone to my head in a big way, if it had been my mothers magic that had gone black or if I'd been more obvious id have been executed for being a warlock. It didn't make much sense to me though, why I was having flashback to Chance Harbor after all these years. I climbed out of bed and padded out to the door to my sub-basement, my half-brother Thomas was passed out on the couch and my dog mouse was sprawled haphazardly on the floor. I tiptoed past him and opened the trap door to my basement sub-level. Mouse's eye peeked open as he continued to pretend to snore (hells bells my dog is way too intelligent sometimes) but fell closed again as he saw it was only me. I climbed down the ladder and into my lab and was so distracted I almost jumped out of skin when the eyelights of the carved human skull on my shelf flared up. "It awful late Sahib, I know I don't have a body but even my internal clock is saying its to early for this." I rolled my eyes at Bob's antics I had long since stopped being amused by him.
"I've been having some problems sleeping Bob." I leveled a serious gaze at my skull "I've been having dreams about Chance Harbor." My skull whistled, a feat which never ceased to amaze me due to his distinct lack of lips "Now theres something I never thought I'd here you mention again. Pretty dark time for you Boss, though I have to give you credit for snagging that adorable little biscuit." I glowered at that, I didn't like anyone referring to Amelia like that "Don't talk about her that way Bob. But I keep getting this terrible feeling something is very wrong in Chance Harbor. Do you think you could help me access that sensor web I put up in my old house?"
Bob made an indecisive noise "It wouldn't normally be possible after all these years but your fathers familys magic was scary strong. You were at your most powerful then and you used the family crest to anchor that spell, along with some of your own blood. It might still be there." It was kind of scary to me to hear how strong I'd been when I'd been using my fathers magic. Even with all of Ebenezar's training and the growth my powers have had I couldn't manage to put up a sensor web that'd last as long as that apparently might have. Bob walked me through the process and I went into a deep meditative state.
I reached down into myself to touch my fathers power as lightly as I could. I normally wouldn't dare to try something like this but if my friends were in trouble I owed it to them to help this time. Ebenezars training would be more than enough to keep me from going crazy just from touching my dark magic a bit. I tapped my fathers power, the darkest part of my magic and pulled the absolute slightest bit of it out and pushed it out to resonate with the world. I felt myself smile as my old strength poured back into my, my old surety of purpose, and I think I'd have lost myself after connecting to that old sensor web if I hadn't heard that sweet, soft, hesitant voice. "Daddy?"
Ok this is a new one. This Idea is something im very interested in pursuing. I love the concept and im hoping itll get some fans. This is just a prologue and I plan to write more and with longer chapters. Id appreciate some review to let me know how its being received so far.