Kieran leaned over to the groggy wolf and grinned at him. “Good. Most of you newbies are in denial.”
“Why? Why would you turn me instead of killing me? You know you’re on my list now.”
“Well, until you learn about your new self, I wouldn’t recommend killing me. That and until the few weeks pass while your body adjusts. Maybe wait a little while past that so I can at least teach you to not only survive, but to thrive. And, I think you might find this will aid you in your little job with your brother.”
“What did you mean that you couldn’t ‘get Emerald back?’ I’m sure this faff is some how related.”
Kieran straightened, still grinning. “True. Things will be easier with you not in the way.”
Adian glared at him, a low growl coming from his throat.
“You know her history, don’t you? Emerald’s and her relationship to that little mare of your brother’s?”
Adian gave a small, half head shake. “Can’t say I do.”
“Honestly, did your uncle teach you nothing?” Adian opened his mouth to ask how he knew he had been raised by Ulmer, but the delphin continued. “Oh, that’s right, your brother was her owner, and you weren’t really interested in the whole keeping slaves thing, were you?”
“Not par–”
Kieran waved his hand dismissively. “We can talk about that interesting little tidbit later. In the mean time, about my lovely Emerald.” He folded an arm across his chest, then rested his other on top of it, and then his chin on that hand. “On second thought, walk with me. I can explain on the way, and I think you should at least see the castle. You’ll be here for quite a while.”
As Kieran walked to the door, Adian pulled the covers away from himself and swung his legs out of the bed. He took a moment to look at his side and his wound there was fully healed.
“You don’t need to worry about little scratches like that anymore,” the delphin stated. “There are some nice perks that come from this state of being.”
“I would have assumed it’s because you are one of those unicorn delphin that can heal,” he responded as he stood and walked toward the other male.
“Only myself. I was not gifted with the ability to heal others, unlike Emerald’s bloodline.”
“Who was she, and why is Snowhawk important?”
Kieran opened the door and stepped into the hall, Adian following him. “Emerald was, once, to be the leader of the Delphin Empire. During the end days, as the slavers were beginning to seek out more valuable targets. Once upon a time, I was her Guardian That’s about the broadest, shortest way to explain that story. I was already in the state I’m in now when she was born. But that tale isn’t as important right now.”
“Maybe when I try to figure out how to undo this mess…” Adian grumbled.
“That’s your decision,” Kieran shrugged, turning and flashing a grin at the wolf. “Do you know the story of what happened at the end of the Empire?”
“The heiress was murdered by slavers. That was Emerald?”
A nod confirmed what Adian had said. “Indeed. She was searching for her mate’s killers. It was soon after she’d delivered her first foal. They captured her after she managed to take out far more than she had any right to take out, and I don’t believe the one who did it intended to kill her but,” Kieran paused and gave a small, disapproving shake of his head. “Well, think of how much of a mouth your brother’s mare has on her and make that 10-fold.”
“How to you know this?”
“I was tracking her. I did get the ability to sense familiar delphin nearby from my biological father.” A small puff of a sigh escaped him. “I came upon the scene as the blow was struck. I killed a couple of the remaining ones, and the rest ran away when they saw the fangs. I was perhaps too fond of her, and my young, stupid self decided to turn her, right there.”
“I thought you said you were her Guardian? How’d she even get to where she was?”
“Again, imagine your brother’s mare, but more headstrong and impulsive. And… much smaller.”
“Aah.” Nothing more needed to be said. Snowhawk, while headstrong and impulsive, was still tempered by her early life and the conditioning she received. That hadn’t been enough to keep her from trying to kill her first owner.
“Still, my days as her Guardian were years past at this point. I was the temporary one as her family’s Royal Guard was away with other parts of that line. When he returned, I went into the field to hunt slavers.”
“What happened after she was turned?”
“She never went back. I had hoped she would, but she stuck beside me, and we spent the next thousand years killing more slavers after finishing off the ones that had killed her mate. Our relationship deepened over time, as it’s hard not to when you spend a hundreds of years with someone you were already fond of, and then have the barriers between you removed. She fought with herself early on if she should stop the Empire’s fall but, at that point, she saw they took no interest in doing so themselves. Her family was eventually captured or killed after their personal guards were captured, killed, or ran. I think their Royal Guard was captured and that really set it all down hill.”
“And Emerald?”
“Her final death came one thousand and six years after she was turned. Again at the hands of some worthless slaver.” Kieran’s fists balled up and he stopped in the hallway. “She turned to dust before me.” He paused again, then straightened himself and continued walking. “I took pleasure in murdering that cat.”
Breaking the uncomfortable silence that followed, Adian asked, “And where does Snowhawk fit in to all of this?”
“Delphin spirits are reborn if they feel they have more to do. I was here almost 27 years ago when I suddenly, very faintly, sensed my dear Emerald again.”
Adian paused in the hallway, quickly going over dates in his head. “That’s how old Snowhawk will be next month.” He trotted after Kieran. “What are you saying?”
“For the past 26 years of her life, my beloved’s spirit has resided in her. She’s the great-great granddaughter of my love’s foal, so it was the easiest body to inhabit. And I know it’s been waking up lately, even before I gave it a little push.”
“Is that why she killed the old wolf?” Adian asked of his uncle’s death.
“That mare had no reason to do so, especially since she could have just slipped away. But no, something in her sent her toward your uncle’s study, convincing her she needed to rescue her cousin right then, who just happened to be that way, and you know the rest of that tale.”
“And you?”
“I’ve been watching her, waiting. Always somewhere near enough. I felt the presence of Emerald suddenly strengthen the night your mare almost died.”
“When she was fighting,” Adian added.
“Presumably. As I said, I was near, not next to. I didn’t see her until she’d collapsed in the hallway and nearly bled out on their white, marble tile.”
“Do you know what’s going to happen to Snowhawk, now that Emerald has awakened?”
“Well, she’s not fully awake yet, but no. I have no idea. Sometimes they “share” the physical body, and the form will shift depending on who has control, sometimes the host is strong enough to wall them off, and for others, the host is lost, the form surrendering to the reborn soul. Still other times, the host will kill themselves, unable to handle the extra voice.”
Adian stopped walking again.
Kieran turned to him a second later, realizing he was no longer being followed. “I doubt that will happen with her. Something about this bloodline is extremely resilient.”
*********
Snowhawk watched as Renner fiddled with the door lock on the guard shed. She had looked around the building, hoping for a vent large enough for her to crawl through, but found nothing.
She heard the heavy door creak as it swung open. “Ah ha!” the sitehound exclaimed. “We are in!”
Snowhawk returned to the front of the building, then paused just before entering. “Renner, would you wait out here? Just in case someone shows up. And maybe let Janus know we got in.”
He nodded an affirmative, and reached for the radio on his hip as she walked inside.
Before the door shut behind her completely, she held her hand against it, slowing it’s inward swing. After a quick search, she grabbed a folded chair and placed it between the frame and the door. Getting locked inside wasn’t something she was prepared to deal with right now.
She had never been in the shack without Adian before. This was not an experience she was interested in maintaining. She quickly made her way to the monitors, and began searching for any signs of…
She didn’t even want to think of his name.
“Dammit, Snowhawk. You need to pull yourself together” she scolded. “This isn’t the time to get this way.” She sighed and tried to collect herself. “He said he wasn’t a vampire. But he was obviously not mortal. Or some such.” She sighed and held her head in her hands. “What did he say he was? Chernomor? Something like that? Fucking bullshit, there’s no such thing,” she scoffed.
I don’t know why you are denying it, Snowhawk. The evidence is right there.
“No one asked for your opinion, Emerald.” Now she’s literally talking to a voice in her head. Who cares if the voice is her ancestor or whatever She’s not welcome.
I can read your thoughts, Snow.
“Fuck! Can you please just not for now!? I just want to find out what happened to Adian.”
Snowhawk dropped herself into the chair, then began reviewing the previous night’s video files. The there was a large gap in video data, around the late evening. Frustrated, she looked at the days before, hoping to find some earlier signs of this… Chernomor or the Avizon that was with him. Hours of searching later, nothing.
You know, Snow, if you’re looking for the Avizon, perhaps you should be looking for someone else…
“What are you talking about?”
Did you really never learn that they’re the ones that taught the others species how to shapeshift?
“… What?”
Yeah. They were the first and taught the other morphs how to. I guess you were never taught that.
“Kind of hard to learn things when you’re being forced to breed before maturity.”
Oh, right, you weren’t born free. Maybe I should be teaching you this, unless you have an old Guard around.
“My family’s Royal Guard is missing. He has been for some time. Last I heard, his owner fucked off to Di’aru with him, so who knows if he’s even still alive.”
That would be our family’s Royal Guard. Who took over, anyway?
“His name is Jerome. Onyx was training him until his death when I was four.”
The constant chatter in her head stopped. Onyx lived that long? She sounded shocked.
“Was he your’s too?” Snowhawk asked as she scanned the video files.
What she felt next was the impulsion to nod. Onyx was training Kieran to be a Guardian. No one knew, or they just didn’t acknowledge that he was a Chernomor. I didn’t know until he turned me as I lay dying from those damned slavers. There was another pause. Another long silence in Snowhawk’s mind. Do you remember? That night, and my rage, my thirst for their blood on my hands to avenge my lost love. Then the panic when realized that this night would be my last.
Snowhawk didn’t reply to her at first, she just continued to scan the previous week’s video. “Sort of. It’s all hazy and vague. Emotions are most of what I can recognize.” Before she could further respond, a strange lupino appeared in the footage. They would have been unnoticed were they not unusually large. “There. I think that’s Anya,” Snowhawk stated to no one, other than the voice in her head.
She jumped up to find Renner and to confirm that the lupino in the video was not one of the new security hires.