Chapter Three – To Maintain, or Not To Maintain?

Katherine, unable to sign and drive at the same time (which I completely understood) then proceeded to give me an education in the supernatural all the way to the grocery store – an underworld of witches, vampires, doppelgangers, and werewolves. Katherine then proceeded to tell me that she fell into two of those categories…and I was to stay out of the conflicts of the town as much as possible.

"If anything, you've just brought a crate full of dynamite to a boiling cauldron," Katherine said. "These people…to them, the Albanian mob is a batch of choirboys, no matter how much of a threat they bring to you or Mystic Falls."

"That does not diminish the threat they pose."

"Of course it doesn't, Narcissa. But…the best thing you can do is try to keep your conflict with the Mob as far from Mystic Falls as you possibly can. I will assist you as much as I possibly can, but you're going to be responsible for yourself. Now…you said you have asphyxia to fruits and vegetables in all forms?"

"Yes."

"Can you consume dairy products?"

"Yes, but I have to do it in moderation. I can also eat bread and pasta – I try to eat that a lot, try to eat a lot of seafood. Candy…I like sugar candy, but chocolate messes me up."

Katherine sighed. "You've never had it easy, have you?"

I lowered my hands – my signal for a sigh. "I just…I wish I knew why I was so sick. Doctors…they've tried everything to help me get healthier, tried to make me feel better, but…it never worked. They tell me I'll be in the morgue by fifty…unless I have a massive fever. If my temperature goes above 115, I'll be toast in three hours."

The car stopped. "Good to know," Katherine replied. "I have asked WITSEC for a copy of your medical records. I…thought you may be able to assist me with some minor matters, but it appears that you may be a liability to me."

I paused. "What are you talking about?"

Katherine nodded…and for a moment, I felt a tingle in the air, like something trying to mess with my mind. I shook my head, and it was gone…and just as Katherine was about to say something, I saw her mouth turn into a small O.

"I…I have never had a human repel my compulsion before," she replied. "I…wanted you to forget what I just said…but you just brushed it off."

"Try again. Maybe it was just a fluke."

"You'd let me try to compel you again?"

"Go ahead."

Katherine nodded, and the tingling returned again, this time stronger. She…was clawing at the edges of my mind, but I was able to push her out again. "Are you…do you have vampire parents?"

"No idea. There is very little information that is declassified concerning my parents – I don't even know their names. My father was apparently working on extremely dangerous experiments in Albania when he and my mother got killed. These experiments were so bad that United States officials don't even have access to the lab. When I turn eighteen, in accordance with my father's will, I am to be given full access to the laboratory and everything in it. That's why the Mob wants me – they want to keep me until I come of age, make me give them the experiments-"

"And then they kill you when they get what they want," Katherine finished. "Typical Mob behavior."

"Not…necessarily," I replied. "I…The Feds tell me that my father was working on stuff with the occult as well…created dangerous weaponry that can only be used by his hand, or the hand of his chosen heir. Before his death, the Feds say he "hexed" my mother, making her…and by proxy, myself…chosen heirs. This mean, in short, that if he has twenty heirs, but only chooses two of them to wield the things he created, the other heirs are not going to be able to wield them."

"So he was a warlock?"

"More like an occultist…he was fanatical about his craft, but it appears he never fully subscribed to witchcraft. He, according to the Feds, believed that by fusing magic with science, incredible things could happen."

"And that's why you need to stay away from the underworld of Mystic Falls…including Klaus Michaelson and his brother, Elijah," Katherine insisted. "They don't know anything about this stuff now, but make no mistake…once they finish with their current agenda, they may come looking for you…and not for the right reasons. That's why I asked the Feds to protect you…I knew about your father. We used to work together…until he went nuts back in the 1980's, plunged into dark magic. Your father's name…was Charles Coffery back when I knew him.

Tears stung my eyes. "Of course, that doesn't mean he didn't change his name when he went crazy. When we met, both his parents had died…he'd been messing around with heroin, weed, other hard drugs…he was a mess. I got him into the company of some Chicago warlocks, they got him clean…and he became extremely powerful in his craft. Then, he returned to UCLA to finish his Ph.D. Sometime after that…he snapped and disappeared. When I found his trail again…it was all dead bodies. Until now." Then, Katherine got out of the car, opening the door to talk to me face-to-face.

"Narcissa Coffery…you, regardless of whether you are human or not, need to stay alive. I need to know what he was doing before he died…why it was so important, and what it was…even if it takes us two years to uncover. Now, come on…let's go."

Tears rolled down my cheeks as we went to the store. As a member of WITSEC, I am not supposed to have any link to my past. However…the name of Charles Coffery, even if it hadn't been his real name when I was conceived, was a link to something more than my past.

It meant…that I didn't just fall out of nowhere. I was connected to something…even though I didn't know what it was yet. A group of warlocks. A college degree. Someone…whom had gotten lost along the way.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I had a father.

Now…I needed to find his trail.