Blood ties Blood Bond pt. 14
Henry leaned back and regarded Augustus carefully. He looked shocked still, and his heartbeat was still slightly erratic, but that probably wasn't unusual for someone who had just encountered a ghost tonight.
"What do you mean she's a guardian?" Henry asked. It was nearly sunrise, less then a hour before dawn but still enough time to get some answers. "And what do you mean 'slaughtered'?"
"I knew her parents. Her father and I were friends ever since training... They were guardians...of a sort. Her mother was the witch-that's where the magic comes from-they met on the job and as things tend to happen..."
"They fell in love" Henry supplied.
"It wasn't unheard of but it was still unusual. Normally there's a strict division between guardians who manage all the arrangements and the magic users who...well...deal with any problems...risks that may arise, threats of exposure."
"They hunt vampires" Henry stated bluntly, looking to Augustus for confirmation. It made sense, no mortal alone would have the abilities to face a vampire and come out alive but a witch... Well, Henry himself could testify to how it was nearly impossible to fight magic with or without supernatural abilities.
"Henry." Augustus cautioned, sighing and slumping down into the chair. "This is all strictly taboo, you're not even supposed to know that they exist. Imagine if the vampires knew that there was another group out there who knew about their existence, their every move and location, not to protect their movements and keep their arrangements in order but to hunt them down if they step out of line? It would be..." he trailed off something horrible forming in his mind.
"A slaughter?" Henry suggested, mind already filling in the blanks.
Augustus nodded mutely.
"Exactly what happened Augustus?"
"It was nearly twenty years ago Henry, it couldn't be..."
"Augustus"-a warning in the tone.
"There was a fire. We investigated, of course, but there was basically nothing left...even the bodies were ash. It was decided that it must have been an accident, there could be no other explanation."
"And everyone was killed?" Henry pressed.
"So we assumed Henry. No survivors were found, the fire fighters arrived while it was still burning. No one came forward and there was evidence of four people..." he swallowed "….having been in the house."
"But you're sure that Jay is who you think she is anyways?"
"I would be positive if I'd seen the mark, but yes, Henry don't you see?" Augustus jumped up and started pacing in his growing excitement. "It's got to be her. Everything you've told me makes sense now! The magic, the knowledge of vampires and ghouls, it couldn't be anyone else! Who else could know all that?"
"I don't know ..."Henry mused, "What does a tattoo have to do with it all?"
Augustus paused for the first time, hesitating as if considering what to say and Henry knew that he was pulling together a lie to explain the slip that he hadn't meant to make. Henry sighed in regret, he hated doing this to an old friend but he needed the answers.
"Augustus" Henry's voice dropped as he used his persuasive powers to force the truth from him.
"What are the marks?"
"They identify us. Which family we guard or our position and role in the society."
Henry remembered Augustus's sun-icon and thought that it was a rather odd image to be associated with him, considering what he was.
"And Jay's mark would be?" another push behind the words.
"A scorpion. Here, on her neck." Augustus reached up, outlining an S shape on the lower left side of his neck, just behind the ear. "It's put on when the child is still young enough not to remember if it doesn't take. There's some sort of magic in it because the mark will fade on those who are not meant for Guardian-ship. That way only those who it accepts are trained and initiated."
Henry sat still thinking over a few things in his mind before getting up and crossing the distance to where Augustus was still standing as if in a trance.
"Thank you, old friend. I understand how important is it that you protect your secrets so I won't ask you anything further."
Augustus blinked, realizing that Henry must have noticed the pause after his last question and decided not to push their friendship by asking him to reveal something that he couldn't.
Henry escorted him to the door, placing his discarded coat and hat in his arms.
"I'll look into this further," Henry's voice dropped again, low and almost sensuous it seeped into Augustus mind unquestioned as truth. "You don't need to concern yourself,"
Augustus nodded, satisfied. "Good night Henry."
"Good night."
Henry closed the blinds on the dawning sun, sighing in fatigue and falling back onto the bed. He could still smell Jay's blood on the towels in the bathroom, still see the spark in her eyes when she'd lied to the doorman...and the shock on her face when Augustus had had said the name. Was it really her? There were a lot of holes in Augustus story of what had happened, it was possible that she had escaped the fire, but what had caused it to begin with? Henry's mind kept whispering at him and he couldn't block out the sickening certainty of it all.
If Jay's mother had even half of her power then a fire would have been no problem to put out, even if it had occurred accidentally and they'd all been asleep at the time. Which means that she was either unconscious or dead when it started. And if her father was a guardian who worked with a witch, they must be a fighting team, which meant that unconscious was becoming less and less likely. Which means that accidental death was probably out too. But who would want to target a seemingly harmless normal family? He could only think of one possibility but he refused to believe it. There had to be another explanation-she wasn't Jaydyth...Augustus had been mistaken. But there was the magic, and the knowledge, and the fact that he had never seen her neck even once-it was always covered...
He would get to the truth of it all tomorrow. He couldn't leave until he could be sure that Vicky would be safe and Jay had-again-threatened her life if he didn't tell her where Christina was. He knew that the sooner he left the better, to draw it out now would only add to the pain-both for himself and Vicky...but he couldn't help being glad that there was an excuse for him to stay a little longer...to be able to see her again, touch her one more time...before he said goodbye.
Henry's eyes drifted closed, his last breath slipping out as the darkness of his dreamless day over took him. With his last thought he remembered how Vicky had looked tonight-not when she was bleeding and in danger-but when he'd first seen her, coming down the hill towards him. She'd rivaled even his most vivid memory of the sun.
--
Jay's hands shook as she dug for her keys in her pocket and they jingled loudly in the empty hallway, finding the right one to unlock the door to her apartment. She fumbled with them, nearly dropping them twice before finally managing to get the right key into the keyhole. She sighed, resting her head against the door trying to make her hands stop shaking long enough to complete the spell. It was ridiculous! Why should an old man's insane ramblings upset her so much?! It was late and dark and he was old. She might resemble someone who he once knew, but that didn't mean anything. He had been wrong...he had to be wrong. There was no other explanation... But why had that name disturbed her so much?