Chapter 4

Harry sat back, rubbing his jaw slightly as he processed what Bella had just said.

"Meh huh?"

She nodded, shrugging. Harry looked at Bella for a few moments before grinning widely.

"Wonderfull!"

Harry paused, his face becoming puzzled.

"Where was I…" Harry snapped his fingers as he remembered. "Thats right! I was talking about where I and my friends had begun to study this world magic. We journeyed the world, each of taking an interest in a branch of magic that felt right. One of my friends was something of a seer and eventually settled in Greece, and she specializes in all sorts of obscure magics involving future sight and manipulation."

Harry picked another roll of sushi apart, separating its filling from the rice into separate, nice, piles.

"My second friend ended up in Russia, and is now known as the nightmare Witch due to her expertise in illusion and terrifying battle and weather magics. I on the other hand journeyed to the Americas, I studied blood rituals, Skin changing, and ways to interface with the natural world in a way that allowed me to truly become a part of it in an unprecedented fashion."

Harry looked up from where he was picking apart his food to stare at Bella, his eyes alight with an almost rabid fascination, readily apparent to both Bella and Jacob who were both rather discomfited by the manic light in the young teens eyes. Harry, immersed in his examination of Bella, failed to notice the hesitation and discomfort in Bella and Jacob, he leaned forward his eyes align with curiosity.

"After almost 500 years of exploration and learning, the magic wielders of this world., finally came together and realized what we were, and enough of them decided that we could not be allowed to live and so tried to kill us."

Bella shifted, her thoughts jumping to what she had to think was the most logical, and most horrifying idea.

"What happened to them?"

Harry stopped and smiled, however, this wasn't a normal smile, a happy smile, or even his manic smile.

This smile was bloody, satisfied, and reveling in it.

"We went to war. The oracle, told us far in advance of our enemies goals, and gathered us together, the Nightmare witch drove the leaders into insanity before blasting great portions of the enemy into slag. I myself turned the very essence of nature against them, the trees, the sky, the ground, the beasts, and the birds. Every last person who even considered attacking us ended up dead."

Harry took the opportunity to gaze at Bella who was staring at him in…

Awe?

Disgust?

Pity? God he hoped not.

With that still unidentifiable emotion, dark on her face, Bella opened her mouth, licked her suddenly dry lips and asked.

"H-how many?"

"People did I kill?"

She nodded. Harry 'h'mmd' thoughtfully and stroked his pale chin.

"Tens of thousands I would think. It was during the Moscovite rebellions, where the occasional battle field could be missed or explained away. We killed all who opposed, us, in the process however, we reduced the magical population of the world to such a small degree that after the depredations of WWII and the intervening years, magic users other then myself almost entirely extinct, the few who remain among the living are are carefully tracked so we are never again surprised."

Bella just stared dumbfounded.

"Wow."

Harry nodded amusedly before he leaned closer to Bella, almost nose to nose with her, and poked her in the forehead with long, slim, pale finger.

"Thats what makes you so interesting however, you have magic, the only one other then myself in the Americas who does. Which means you are the first naturally born magic user on the continent in over 200 years."

Bella paused as what Harry said rolled through her mind like a wrecking ball.

What. The. Hell.

Magic? Really?

"So what does this mean?"

Harry smiled, all sharp teeth, bright eyes, and pale flesh.

"It means everything."