Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, Teen Wolf: The Series or Twilight.

Chapter 8: Kiku The Mage

Lovino paid for their lodgings for the night in Albuquerque. Natalya slept in a bed by herself again and her male companions were forced to occupy the other bed together. Betsy was in the section with the other horses that were pulling other wagons for other travelers' journeys

The next day they went into town. Natalya would need a bigger jar for her wolfsbane and more soil. Arthur wanted to buy some proper thread and shark teeth for Lovino's disguise. Lovino also wanted a cape, so they put their change together to purchase him one.

"These vampires are in high society, it would make sense to have a cape," Lovino nodded.

They were now on their way to a local food market, Natalya's jar was in her hand and Lovino had the cape around his shoulders and was carrying the thread and teeth in his pocket.

"Natalya, does your brother's journal say anything about magic shops around here?" Arthur asked.

Natalya pulled Ivan's journal out of her pocket, "I do not know. I will check." Natalya skimmed through the pages of the journal to find a later entry. She landed on one that mentioned Albuquerque.

July 17. 1886

The pack with two Alphas knew very little about the whereabouts of the Vampire King. They said they kept away from them and only the pack with five Alphas dealt with them in a sort of diplomatic way to keep the peace between the two supernatural groups.

They wanted to go back. Clyde said they should think of a strategy to confront the five pack of Alphas. Antonio thought it was too risky to confront them at all as it would upset the natural order of things. Harvey had mentioned we were low on funds and would need to take up another "for hire" position before we could continue our expedition.

All excuses but I can wait if we need to prepare.

I suggested we stop in Albuquerque before we turn around to go back home for proper lodgings.

It was settled then.

Ivan.

July 19. 1886

I don't know how that older man can sense what I am here for. He gave me a warning about the all consuming nature of revenge.

That old fool knows nothing. I am doing what is best for humanity. No longer will we have to fear these beasts when I kill their leaders. All he will do is sit back and watch. All of that magic and for what purpose?

To tell me not to do what must be done?

I have given up too much to go back now.

Ivan

Natalya closed the journal and looked around to see both of her male companions were gone.

"Arthur? Lovino?" Natalya frowned and decided to walk towards the farmer's market to see if they had gone without her. Natalya walked past a potato stand and decided to purchase a sack of potatoes with a few coins she had left over from buying a bigger jar for her wolfsbane. The man who was selling the potatoes gave her a smile before handing them to her.

With her sack in hand she looked for Lovino first, his curl, cape and slightly darker skin made him stand out more so than Arthur. In the sea of women, men and children who were going to the market, she spotted Lovino a few booths down, he seemed to be carrying corn still in their husks and was looking around.

Lovino then made eye contact with her and they met in the halfway point between them.

"Why did you both leave me?" She asked when she was right in front of him.

"I was in front and thought you two were following me. I assumed you would catch up and decided to buy corn in the meantime."

"No, I stopped momentarily because Arthur asked me to check Ivan's journal. I thought you both would have waited."

Natalya blinked and so did Lovino as they said in unison, "Is Arthur not with you?"

"He left us again!" Lovino said, a frown on his face.

"He said he was going to stay." Natalya said, voice lowered, lips pursed.

"Next time he's under some vampire's spell I'm not going to save him." Lovino shook his head as he led the way back to the inn where Betsy and the coach was held.

Natalya frowned, anger rising before she felt a grip on her right ankle. Natalya gasped as she was pulled downwards.

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Natalya fell onto the ground onto her bottom, still holding her sack of potatoes.

"Hmm so that's how it's done." She looked over to see Arthur and a shorter raven haired young man who was dressed in a long black cape. Underneath he wore a purple robe. He looked to be of oriental heritage.

"What the devil is going on?"

"Shush. Just watch." Arthur said.

Natalya blinked and took a look at her surroundings. She was in a wooden cabin that had a black cauldron in the center. It was raised onto some rocks. Across the room were some wooden shelves stacked with books. Arthur and the oriental man were just by the shelves. A staircase was next to it, apparently leading to an upper part of this dwelling. On a table next to her held jars filled with various kinds of liquids and one that looked to be filled with eyeballs.

She stood up and just then a circle with strange markings glowed in a faint blue light next to her on the ceiling. The oriental man was speaking in a strange dialect she couldn't understand from a worn out book.

Through the ceiling Lovino came. He landed on his bottom as she had, only to wince in pain at the weight of the corn that fell onto him.

"Lovino?" Natalya asked and the brunet turned to her.

"Natalie!" Lovino seemed relieved to see her.

"How did you do that?" Natalya said, turning to the oriental man. The man bowed to them but neither Lovino or herself moved.

"Lovino, Natalya, I would like you to meet Kiku. He's a mage." Arthur gestured to who she could assume was the mage.

"A what?" Natalya furrowed her eyebrows.

"A mage is someone who practices magic. They can perform all sorts of spells, teleportation, conjuring spells, and even combat spells." Arthur said to which Kiku the mage nodded.

"We thought you'd abandoned us again." Natalya said.

Arthur crossed his arms, "Really you'd think I'd leave right after I said I would stay? I would never go back on my word."

Natalya gave him a nod.

"How do we know that we can trust you or him? Does he have you under some kind of spell, Blondie?" Lovino stepped over to Arthur, gripped his face between his hands and studied his eyes.

Natalya noticed Arthur's cheeks were the color of salmon again, "Lovino you don't need to do that." He gripped the brunet's shoulders and pushed him back.

"I mean neither of you any harm. I was just curious as to the origin of Arthur's kind. I sensed magic from him but knew he was neither a werewolf nor of the undead vampire species. He said he was traveling with you when I brought him here and wanted to let you know of his whereabouts."

"Oh so he gets to know about how you got turned but not me? I see how it is." Lovino crossed his arms.

"This isn't about me. It's about the origins of weredogs as a supernatural species. The historical context if you will."

"And what do we get out of telling you this information?" Natalya said, addressing the mage.

"Arthur has already discussed with me the nature of your journey. I am afraid I cannot assist in killing werewolves because it is my job to keep record of the abilities of all supernatural creatures. My role is only to observe and preserve all life. But Arthur has expressed a desire to transfer some of his powers to one of you."

Natalya blinked. This was what she wanted. In a way she could be a vampire without the complications; the power, speed and agility would make her a better fighter.

"It would not be permanent of course. Conner was supposed to teach me this ability. He said that it was only used in emergency situations as it drains the giver. I've never tried it before."

"I'll do it!" Natalya said to which Kiku gave her a nod.

"I've got no problems with that." Lovino shrugged.

"Is it not my decision to make?" Arthur said and presumably all three of them looked in his direction. Natalya raised an eyebrow, "Fine it does not matter," he avoided their gazes and waved them away before crossing his arms.

They ascended the stairs and entered what looked like ordinary living quarters for someone. Kiku made the three travelers some cups of tea and they sat on some mats around a short table on the floor.

"From what I understand, Weredogs have only been around for the past 80 years or so. They were created as a way to combat the vampire problem of the late 1790s. As Werewolves die about every 50 years their populations stay about the same, Vampires have much longer life spans as you probably know. Werewolves didn't kill off the vampires, as many of the early alchemists had hoped, they merely stayed out of each others way."

"Every 50 years exactly all of the werewolves die?" Lovino asked.

Arthur shook his head, "Werewolves have the same lifespans as regular humans and can succumb to diseases so they never really had an upsurge in population growth unless the human population did."

"Oh."

"The alchemists had taken samples from werewolves to break down the elements of what gave them their powers. They decided to reverse engineer a potion that made wolves more tame, non indestructible and not hungry for human flesh. The destructibility was a back up procedure in case this idea went wrong and the weredogs needed to be killed. This potion was injected into a dog breed that protected wolves from sheep in the wild, and then this dog bred with another stronger dog. Once the dogs were bred the first 8 dogs were trained and then sent out to attack a group of vampires that were known to lurk not far from the village of Beavergonie."

"Beavergonie? You mean our neighboring town was the first to have weredogs?" Natalya spoke up.

"Yes, but it's not widely known; magic and the supernatural are taboo subjects. This operation was a small one done in complete secrecy. That is why there are no written records of the experiments, only oral tellings passed down from weredog to weredog."

"Should I not be writing this down?" Kiku asked.

"I believe it is fine for you to keep a record. Our species is going to die out very soon anyway."

He said before sipping his tea, "As I was saying, apparently one survived and this dog's blood was injected into the body of a man who volunteered to be the first subject. They studied the man's behavior for months and realized that they had a real weapon on their hands.

Strict regulations were put in place to determine who was eligible to become a weredog. Blood pacts were made between the first 5 weredogs, who swore to protect the human race against the supernatural."

Natalya sipped her own glass of tea. She glanced over to see Lovino with his face against one of his hands, elbow on the table, eyes closed.

"They each took under a protégé and trained with them for months but they had no interest in fighting vampires; they wanted to use their powers to make their daily lives easier, impressing women, lifting heavy items, catching game in the forest. It soon became an elitist sort of thing where the first five were reluctant to pass their powers onto a newer generation, upon learning that they could temporarily give their powers to others if it was needed, usually when they partnered with vampire hunters. Of course accidents happen and people are bitten or scratched but not to the extreme that werewolves or vampires were being created."

Natalya pinched Lovino's nose to wake him up. "W-wha-" He frowned as he blinked his eyes open.

Kiku nodded, "Interesting. And what exactly are your powers?"

"He can turn into a goddamn dog. It's literally in the name." Lovino said and Natalya nodded.

Arthur sighed, "Yes, similar to lycanthropy; I can reshape my physical form into that of an Anatolian shepherd."

"Are you all able to transform into Anatolian shepherds?"

"No, my brother was able to turn into an Irish Wolfhound. I'm sure that before he was turned someone was messing around with trying to diversify breeds to maximize proficiency. I don't know if it has to do with human genes or the dog genes."

"Interesting. And are you able to partially shift?" Kiku continued to write down Arthur's answer, before he dipped his feather back into the ink to start again.

"I suppose so; I can grow out my hair and sharpen my teeth," he said.

Kiku asked a few more questions before clearing the table and asking herself and Arthur to sit across from each other.

"I'm sure that this is just like any energy transferring spell. First there has to be a connection, one of trust. So start by gripping each other's forearms."

Natalya gripped Arthur's forearms and she felt him grip hers. She had no problem staring into the other young man's green eyes but Arthur often broke contact to glance away. She noticed a slight salmon coloring of his cheeks.

"Now both of you close your eyes and breathe in and out gently." Natalya did so.

"This next part requires you both to be relaxed and Natalya do not be startled if you start to feel a tingling sensation."

After a few moments she didn't feel anything. Until suddenly she felt as though something was lighting her veins on fire. It burned and not in a good way.

Is this supposed to happen?

And then it got worse, if possible it got even hotter, and she could feel the burning even on the upper layers of her skin. As though her blood was boiling, she assumed that if she opened her eyes, bubbles would be forming under her skin. She tensed and let go of Arthur, and tried to pull out of his grip.

"Let go! Let go!" She screamed, before opening her eyes and seeing Arthur do the same. He let go of her and she fell backwards onto the floor.

"Natalie!" She heard Lovino yell and soon the brunet had rushed over to help her up. Natalya accepted the help and was soon in a standing position. Natalya noticed there were burns from where Arthur had gripped her arms.

"What the hell was that huh?" Lovino rounded on the mage.

"It seems as though Arthur gave you too much too quickly, and like an overheated boiler you were going to combust if he hadn't stopped."

"What?!" Lovino said. To which Natalya blinked.

"Do you even know what you're doing, mage?" Natalya said, stalking up to the shorter man.

Kiku nodded, "It would have worked if Arthur was calm." To which presumably all three sets of eyes snapped to the blond.

"How do you know that? How are you sure that her frail womanly body can handle this sort of thing?" He said, crossing his arms.

To which Lovino nodded, "He does have a point."

"That could also be possible." Kiku said.

Natalya frowned, "You really believe that? He's just trying to deflect blame." Natalya said before she stalked over to him. She leaned in close, nose to nose, "Are you scared, Blondie?"

Arthur looked taken aback, either at what she said or the use of the epithet.

"No! I'm not."

Natalya leaned back, lips pursed, arms crossed. "Well then, what is it?"

"I don't trust you!"

"Hey now, we saved your ass from that vampire." Lovino spoke up, "I thought we were ok."

Arthur shook his head, "No if I remember correctly you're the only one who wanted to "save me," Natalya was perfectly content on leaving me if it meant you'd find Ivan. Who's to say she won't do it again when we find him?"

Natalya patted the space where her heart was located over her chest "Are you telling me that I'm supposed to choose you, who I've recently met, over my own flesh and blood relative?" She put her hands on her hips, "Do you hear how foolish you sound?"

"Well they're my powers."

"Stop being a brat! Just in case we were separated it would help that I also have super strength. You're going to have to share them at some point!"

"I didn't say I didn't want to share them. I-I just don't want to share them with you!"

How dare he! Natalya was the perfect candidate, she was fearless, relentless, and strong. It would make more sense to give her powers over Lovino. It wouldn't come to choosing him or Ivan. This floolish son of a bitch letting his stupid parinoia cloud his judgement.

"Wait a minute. You want to share them with me?" Lovino furrowed his eyebrows.

"You won't have to be afraid of vampires anymore…well for a limited amount of time, but you know what I mean! If you don't think you're up for it–" Arthur crossed his arms, gaze temporarily away from the other man.

"No! I'll take it!"

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The process was exactly the same as when she tried it, although Arthur didn't burn Lovino. Lovino mentioned that he felt tingly. They were going to bid the mage a good morrow but Lovino thought of a plan.

"So can't you just transport us into the Vampire King's castle?" Lovino asked.

"To assist in your conquest?"

"No, we just wanted to see if he has Ivan, I think we could sneak in and out no problem."

"I have not been to or seen the Vampire's Castle so I cannot transport you there. Gomenasai."

"Could you at least teach me the spell? I think it would be useful." Natalya spoke up.

"It's against protocol. I'm just a student myself."

Natalya stalked up to the man and gripped his collar, "We are going against the most powerful blood sucking vampires and I don't have any magical dog powers! I am at very large disadvantage! Give me the spell!"

"Your argument is sound." Kiku tears out a piece of paper from his book that he was taking notes on. He copies the text from his spell book and then hands it to her.

Spell name: Obliictus Noctortia

Effect: Creates a portal to a different location.

"You have to say the words of the spell and visualize the place you want to go in your mind. You can also transport others this way as well. Concentration and tranquility are most needed."

He says the words "Obliictus Noctortia" and then she repeats the words of the spell.

After that Kiku was going to transport them back to Albuquerque.

Kiku grabbed his spell book that was on the nearby table where they had sat to drink tea. He flipped through the pages of the worn out book. The leather was ripped in a few pages. She couldn't make out what language he was speaking in but the circle with the blue glowing symbols formed under their feet.

Natalya felt tingles down her spine in anticipation. The circle glowed a bright white, engulfing her entire being. Then she felt light and weightless as though her very essence was vibrating faster and faster. She soon couldn't see Kiku anymore, and it was soon replaced with canvas tents that had been used during daylight for the market. Natalya felt unstable on her feet as her fingers became more solid and visible. Her insides were twisting before they solidified, and she stomped her feet to see if she was really standing on the desert dirt road.

She looked around to see the other two young men had been transported with her. "I do not like doing that even if it is easier to get around." Lovino said, shaking his head. He led them all back to the coach. Natalya checked to see if anything was missing from her sack, nothing was missing. Her wolfsbane had grown a lot.

"Hey! That mage still has our corn!" Lovino yelled, and Natalya looked over to see him get hit with a few ears of corn that came from an illuminated blue circle in the sky. Lovino rubbed his head and groaned.

A similar fate was going to befall her too, but she anticipated the sack of potatoes and managed to catch them.

Since it was now nightfall, they decided to stay in the Inn in Albuquerque another night.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Criticism Welcome.

I've never written lore before, so hopefully it makes sense.