Part 10

The cabin was…well wreck wasn't a strong enough word. Paris stared at the mess. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside. There was no sign of Jean. Her car was outside. He shook his head in anger, kicking aside some of the broken debris. There were a few ruby coloured strands of hair caught on the back of the recliner chair, or what used to be the recliner chair.

"What the hell happened in here?" Nate stepped out through the kitchen doorway.

Paris shook his head. "I haven't a fucking clue," he answered.

His cousin's intelligence people should have picked up on the event. "I was hoping you could tell me." Nate had something of a habit in appearing in the middle of dramatic situations that had nothing to do with him and knew more about what was going on than the people involved.

Nate shrugged, stepping over some smashed glass. "From what my people told me, it sounded like a shapeshifter attack," he answered. "But with really weird animals - two birds, an anteater and a moose."

Paris blinked, then laughed. "Let me guess, Jedi Knights swooped in and took Jean off to safety?"

"Nah, a bird shapeshifter got her into an approaching car that took off."

So unknown shapeshifters had attacked Jean, while some others had saved her? None of it made any sense.

"The bears are dead," Nate said, gesturing.

Paris followed him through to the kitchen. Two bodies were lying on the floor. Their faces were little more than flesh and gore. Claw marks were scraped across their chests.

"Well that's helpful," Paris snarled. "You're supposed to be the fucking answer man and you've given me nothing." He turned and stalked out, throwing open the unlocked door of his car and thumped himself into the driver's seat, slamming the steering wheel in frustration.

Damnit Jean, what the hell is going on? he thought, running his fingers through his hair.
With nothing else to do he turned on the engine and drove away.
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ATUHOR'S NOTE: THE IDEAS OF CLAN TEMPEST AND THE SPELLS USED, SECTS AND POWERS RELATING TO THE TEMPESTS ALL COME FROM THE RPG WEBSITE AND BELONG TO LAYLA TEMPEST AND ARE USED WITH PERMISSION.

A " ClanTempestWeb site /A .

Jean stared. She sat back on a red suede couch in the white apartment that she had woken up in. Marla and Ivana were sat on two arm chairs that matched the couch. They had just explained about being a Tempest. The information…well…after the drama of the animal fights earlier… not a lot of it was really sinking in. "So…a Tempest is like a combination of vampire, witch and shapeshifter because of an ancient spell that went wrong," Jean said slowly. Ivana nodded. "Yes, the mother of the Originals wanted true immortality, wanting to succeed where Maya had failed. The spell needed the blood of a dragon and the two people closet to the witch performing the spell, so she used her two children. Their father found out and to stop the spell working made them vampires. The mother slit their wrists and let the blood drip into the bowl of dragon blood she had collected. She ran when it didn't work, not wanting to be caught and punished for killing her own children. In her escape she knocked over the bowl of mixed blood and it seeped into her children's wounds. Since they were becoming made vampires they healed with the mixed blood. And soon realised they had new powers. So the children, Layla and her brother Hakeem left the tribe. Discovering their new powers they also found they could change shapes like a dragon could but were only limited to two shapes - a bird and an animal. They also discovered they were strong witches and could control an element. Somehow, later on Layla found out copper was what killed Tempests, after being reborn. I'm not too sure on the details there, but that is the basic history of how the Tempests came to be. There's probably scrolls in the mansion library or record rooms with more details."

Jean just nodded. She didn't get vampires. Or wanting to be immortal. But it looked like she was stuck this way and there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. The idea of a mansion purely for the one species was appealing. She liked the sound of being in one place with a bunch of others like her and no one would be able to judge her or would make her life miserable cause she was different. "Okay. So before you mentioned the Tempests were broken up into Sects depending on their personalities?"

Marla nodded. She shot a look at Ivana. Jean's eyes rolled. She couldn't help it, it wasn't her fault her real parents had abandoned her and never told her what she was. I need Paris, Jean thought. He must be so worried about her. Surely he would have realised something had happened to her by now.

"Let's go through the Sects again," Ivana said patiently. She seemed to be so much calmer than Marla. Something about Marla set Jean's teeth on edge.

"There are nine sects in the Clan," Ivana explained. "Emperor, High Priestess, Strength, Justice, Moon, Sun, Hermit, Devil and Lovers. Each sect is run by a Sage and an Apprentice. A Sage is the wise person, the most powerful of the Sect, and Apprentice is his or her second in command. Are you getting this?"

Jean nodded. They had already been through all of this once. She sank back against the sofa. She needed to hear it all again, to make sure she understood, that way she would be able to figure out where she belonged. It was all very well knowing the name of the species she was now. She needed to know if there was even a place in the Clan for her.

"Emperor is made up of the Sages of all the Clans, and any members of the Originals families. Which means the children and grandchildren of Layla and Hakeem and their soulmates or significant others. High Priestess are the loud, brassy type. They're mystical, have good intuition and good physic powers. On the other hand, their bitchy and vindictive." Ivana shot a smirk at Marla. "You'd know /all/ about that, wouldn't you, Marla?"

Marla grinned. "Absolutely."

Jean smiled, and nodded again. "Uh-huh."

"The other brassy Sect for those with a taste for dark magic and gaining power is Sect of the Devil. There's also Sect of the Moon, who I think are somewhere in between Devil and High Priestess, not exactly power crazed, but not exactly all smiles and niceness either, if you know what I mean."

Jean found herself nodding. She had an idea. Moon sounded a little appealing her, she thought. "What else?"

"The quieter Sects are Strength - magic workers and healers, known for their infinite calmness and in a lot of cases limitless patience." Ivana smiled. "That's me, I'm also the Apprentice of the Sect. The other really quiet Sect is Hermit, which isn't as bad as it sounds. They're clairvoyants with a power for divining meaning from dreams."

"Unless you're planning on being a loner and dwelling on your past and avoiding everything else going on, I wouldn't give Hermit much of a thought," Marla interjected.

Jean thought Marla sounded a little too dismissive for her liking. Jean had been a loner for most of her life, but not by choice. Ivana frowned at Marla, who just rolled her eyes. She then stood up and walked off.

"Anyway," Ivana went on with a sigh, "the last three sects are Justice, who are the peace makers, truth seekers. Also good clairvoyants. There's also Sun, who are the creative Sect, the people are a little weird but some of the nicer, and more fun ones. And finally there's Lovers who a friendly, loyal and easy going, almost hippie like," she finished with a smile.

Jean smiled back. So much to choose form. She had been thinking she liked the sound of moon, but was now thinking that Sun or Lovers might be more interesting. "You mentioned something about magical powers. Each Sect has a different one."

Ivana nodded. "Each Sect has a different magical gift and a fighting gift. For High Priestess it's Fascination, which is a mind control ability. Their fighting skill is Iadio which is a form of lighting fast sword play. Strength's fighting ability is Aikido, this is a form of harmonizing with your attacker and throwing them off balance with a neutralising technique. Strength's magical ability is evocation which deals with raising and controlling spirits. Justice's magical skill is clairvoyance - seeing the past, present and future. Their fighting skill is Tai Chan Chun which is some complicated sounding system of using the idea of yin and yang and serene movements and health and well being. Something along those lines. The Sage and Apprentice will be able to tell you more than me. Sun's magical talent is Astral Projection, their fighting skill is Tae Kwando, which - "

"I know what both of those are," Jean interrupted. "I've had some training in Tae Kwando. Move on."

Ivana nodded. "Okay. Moon's magical gift is Pyromancy, it's a form using fire to call up past, present, future events. Sometimes it works with throwing an object into the fire and asking a question. Their fighting skill is Kendo. It's a more physical and aggressive form of fighting, also originally came from, if I remember correctly, the art of the Samurai sword. Hermit's magical gift is another clairvoyant one, theirs is Oneiromancy the ability to see things though dreams. Their fighting skill is Judo." Ivana paused, watching as Jean nodded. She knew what Judo was, or had heard of it anyway. So Ivana moved on. "Devil's fighting skill is Jujitsu - think The Matrix," she added with a grin. "Their magical skill is Psionics which is affecting the physical word with physic powers. They also have some telekinetic abilities, also can make objects appear, move objects, change appearance, but I'm told most of this is very hard to do and requires intense training and concentration. Most Sect powers do, and some adapt quicker than others. This, along with Evocation, is one of the hardest talents to master. And finally, Lover's magic gift is Empathy which means being able to pick up on emotions and how other people are feeling and project feelings. Their fighting gift is Kung Fu."

Jean understood most of the magical talents. A lot of them she had heard of. She knew how to do some clairvoyance, but had never had the patience to develop it into a real gift. While dark magic wasn't something that particularly appealed to her, Psionics got her attention. The mind games she could play with a power lie that, the revenge she could get… A lot of the fighting talents she had never heard of, about three of them were familiar to her. Tae Kwando, as she had once had some training in it but never kept up with it, Jujitsu and Kung Fu, mainly from various TV programmes, movies like the Kill Bill, the Matrix Trilogy, and the thought of being able to actually /do/ them for real…

"I need to make a phone call," Jean announced, standing up. She needed Paris desperately. Now she had all this information, she needed him to help her decide what she wanted to do with it all.

"Sure, phone's in the kitchen," Ivana said, gesturing in that direction. Jean followed where Ivana's finger was pointing. Marla was in the kitchen, the phone in her hand. "I need the phone," Jean said, holding out a demanding hand. "Why?" Marla asked, holding it just out Jean's reach.

"I need to call my boyfriend, Paris," Jean told her.

Marla's eyebrows arched. "Not Paris /Harman/ by any chance?"

Jean frowned. How could Marla possibly know Paris? "Yes. Why?" She reached out, trying to snatch the phone, but Marla just pulled it out her way.

The smile curving Marla's lips were almost cruel. "Well now, isn't /that/ interesting."