Fangs and Fairytales: Orphans

Orphans -- Chapter the Seventh

Shannon looked at the pale, slender hand she had pulled back, wanting it on him again. "This is that whole "power of seduction" myth, isn't it?"

Masha rolled her eyes. "A lot of that was just sexually frustrated Victorian maidens looking for any outlet they could get. But yes, that is where it comes from. I just got so overwhelmed by you I forgot what I was doing. Please forgive me. I wouldn't influence you unfairly like that intentionally, believe me. And I didn't do it until the heat of the moment. I'm not doing it now either. Anything you felt in the beginning was you. And it is now."

Shannon nodded. Part of him didn't care if he was under some supernatural influence or not. He was already craving her again, that euphoria burned into his brain. Being with Masha was incredible. He didn't care why. "Is that what you meant when you said there would be consequences? Because now I can't stop thinking about you, but I don't mind."

Masha shook her head. "No. The effect wears off quickly for you. I assure you it is long gone by now. The consequences were for me, but they will affect you too if I am not careful." He looked at her so trustingly, so wanting, that she couldn't resist stopping to press her lips to his. He tasted as warm and sweet as when she had first kissed him, and she wished they had more time together. When this was all over, when she began Jared's proper training, she hoped she would have many nights to spend exploring everything about Shannon. She just couldn't lose control again. Not like last night. "Now that I have drunk from you, I will continue to crave you. The more it happens the more I will want you. I hope you can understand how dangerous that is. We can't let it happen again."

"Yeah." Shannon looked at her, her gray eyes clouded in concern and regret. He had seen that look from her before. Perhaps if she was feeling guilty for losing control with him he could use that to get some more answers from her. He pulled her hand into his lap and thought about how to ask what he wanted before deciding the direct approach was most likely to get results. "What did you do? In the past I mean. What is it that Jared and I are supposed to be making up for?"

Masha instantly pulled her hand away. "I made a mistake," she answered without looking at him.

"I gathered that much. I'm asking what that mistake was." Masha didn't answer him, and Shannon could see she was lost in thought, most likely weighing what would happen if she told him. "Please. I really feel like I need to know."

Masha sighed and scooted away from him on the sofa, feeling as if it would best if they got some extra distance between them before she started this story. She probably would have told it from the safety of another state if she could, just to keep from having to look at him when she confessed her penultimate error in judgment. "Jared isn't my first child," she began.

Klara finished putting the last of the herbs she had laid out into the shallow silver pan on the table. As Jared watched she sprinkled them with some sort of oily liquid then struck a match, dropping it into the center of the pan and igniting the contents. The room quickly filled with a noxious cloud of smoke, and Jared had to fight a nearly overpowering urge to run away.

Silas handed Klara a length of rope and Jared watched in fascination as she passed it through the smoke, chanting in a language that he did not recognize but was sure wasn't her native German. His eyes began to swim and his throat itched, and as he observed Silas, Jared noticed that he too was watery eyed and showing signs of distress. Klara, however, seemed to remain unaffected, chanting on while she fed foot after foot of rope through the dark vapor. .When she had finished she handed the entirety of it to Silas then blew out the embers with a whispered word. The air in the room immediately returned to normal and the hairs on Jared's arms stood up.

"Come with me," Silas instructed, motioning to Jared who followed obediently behind him as they left the small magic room and the busy hexe behind, moving into the loading bay where they had originally parked. Something in here tickled at Jared's senses, a sweet and heavy odor that grew stronger the closer they got to Masha's vehicle. He had noticed it before, on the ride over here, but he had still been trying to make sense of things and it had been lost in a cacophony of other scents and sounds. When Silas threw the tail hatch open the smell grew so overpowering Jared actually stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his own feet.