Half-Blooded: The Guardian Series Book 1

"Half-Blooded"

2012 © All Rights Reserved 

*****

“Why don’t you tell us more about yourself, Kiara?” Varen asked, causing the two fighters to focus their attention on her.

Squirming uncomfortably under their combined gazes, she finally said, “I’d rather not. Since I’m the one considering joining this clan of yours, why don’t you tell me about it?” She did her best not to look uncomfortable and to not fidget.

Varen just smiled and said, “I’m sure there will be time for that tomorrow, right Sorix?”

Kiara tried to keep herself from swearing as she watched Sorix and Krayal both nod cautiously. Varen had known she was trying to hide something and now he had let Sorix and Krayal know that as well. She had no other choice than to tell them something.

She thought quickly about what she would, and wouldn’t, tell them about herself and her past. They never said how much or what to say about herself and that knowledge that there were loop holes she could pass through easily gave her the confidence to tell them the basic facts.

“Well, my mother was killed about a hundred fifty two years ago and since then I had been living with Mataya, who was a close friend of my mother’s. Since then, I have been selling my services to many of those who wish to keep their business confidential. Among those who hire me, are some demons,” Kiara said, making sure they understood that fact and didn’t underestimate her. It took guts to deal with a demon, let alone to be in the same room with one.

She took a breath and continued, “I am one of the best assassins to ever enter the business and a fairly quick thief. Other than that, I don’t think there’s really much else to mention,” she finished carefully.

Sorix watched her for a moment considering everything she had just said and nodded once. Kiara released a breath she had been holding, glad to have his approval and turned to Varen. He was still watching her closely and finally asked, “Where’s your stone?”

He was referring to the soul stone that all sakridae who aren’t Sirens have. He had caught that she wasn’t wearing one and that she hadn’t shown any signs of being a Siren yet. Kiara paused for a moment then reached into the pocket in her armor where her bag was, hoping that was where her mother had hidden her soul stone. She felt another small, raindrop sized item and pulled it out while releasing the magic that had until then kept it smaller.

It was a black stone that was wrapped with a thin gold wire that held it and made a loop on the top that kept it on the gold chain it hung from. The stone itself was only the size of the end of her thumb and therefore didn’t need much energy to keep it shrunken, so the energy that was released back into the atmosphere was minute and almost impossible to sense.

Varen’s eyebrows shot up, as did Sorix’s. She held the soul stone up a little longer before slipping it back into the pocket, resolving to shrink it again later. “Does that answer your question?” she asked.

Varen nodded slowly. Their surprise was probably due to the stone’s size. The larger a soul stone was the more energy it could filter at once and the more powerful the effect of some spells. She wondered how large Sorix’s soul stone was, but figured it would be rude to ask and so kept her mouth firmly shut.

“Do you know your father?” he asked. It seemed as though it were an important question and both Varen and Krayal went stone-still, wanting to hear every sound that came out of her mouth and determine whether she was lying or telling the truth.

“No,” she said simply. She felt no emotion at the knowledge that her father had seemed to practically abandon her or was killed before she was either born or old enough to remember him. Her cold-heartedness scared her a little, but then again, what was she supposed to feel for someone she had never known and never met?

“Damn,” Sorix said, looking down at the ground. The other two did similar things, all three seeming disappointed.

“What?” Kiara asked, unsure of what they had expected her to say.

“You’ve been a sort of oddball so far, we were hoping you might know him. None of us know our demon parents. Kinda hoped you would be the first,” he said quietly. Kiara was about to ask why it was so important to them when she realized that it had stopped raining.