Perfect Pet

Ch. 21: Ancient Magic

She knew I was just as tired of searching for the needle in the haystack as she was. "No," I grumbled, resigned. "Let's hope this doesn't end badly."

"I doubt it. For all their magic, witches are timid creatures." She turned her head to look over her shoulder, features set in determination. "Try not to come off too threatening. The last thing we want is to scare them off before getting what we came for."

"I'll try," I said doubtfully. Two strange vampires wandering onto their land were going to come off as dangerous no matter what we did. Not to mention it was still up in the air on how far their abilities extended. If they could sense the power of our auras then we were completely screwed.

"We knew it was going to be hard. As gifted as Landon is with technology, he still had trouble finding anything."

"I've heard of off the grid," I mused out loud. "But this is ridiculous."

"Funny what a hundred years will do," Madam Moreau said. "We used to live just like this." Sorrow laced her words as she thought back to that period in time.

The Reveal happened before I was born so I could only imagine what it was like, having to hide in the shadows and live half a life. People like the headmistress or my parents that had been around before rarely talked about it, citing that they wanted to focus on the brighter future they were working towards. There was no point in reliving a past we had no intentions of revisiting.

Even the humans seemed eager to forget that year of war and bloodshed.

Knowing I was treading a tender area, I turned back to the topic at hand. "It's getting stronger."

She hummed in agreement. "Get ready."

In the center of the small town was a little park where parents could take their children to play. A jungle gym, slide, and swings were scattered around along with some picnic benches. A fountain bubbled from its spot at the entrance, spray misting in the cool air. It would have been a charming sight if there wasn't a group of roughly thirty people blocking the gate, watching us silently.

The hairs on my arms prickled in warning.

"Looks like we found the welcoming committee," I muttered sarcastically.

"Shhh," Madam Moreau hissed, coming to a stop roughly a yard away. If I had been close enough, she might have smacked me. "Let me do the talking."

"Wasn't that the plan anyway?"

This close, the thrumming became almost painful as my aura picked up each individual trace of magic. They were like bee stings; one or two were fine but they started to add up after a while. My system, unused to such stimuli, was being bombarded on all sides by the force of it. Despite the pain, however, I found it fascinating how each set of magic had its unique print under the pulse that told me it was magic in the first place. Given enough time, I could probably be able to identify which belonged to each person based on feeling alone.

I had to grit my teeth to prevent showing just how bad I was doing. I didn't want to appear threatening but looking weak wasn't an option either. That made it all the more insulting when I glanced over at Madam Moreau and saw her standing there coolly, seemingly unaffected. She raised a brow as she studied the crowd, most of which had their heads covered by cloaks that concealed their entire bodies. No one said anything, choosing instead to continue watching in silence. I stayed back, figuring it would come off friendlier that way.

"I have been hearing of a group of vampires that are searching for us," A voice rang out from the large body of people. Because their features were concealed, it was hard to tell exactly where it was coming from. "I didn't want to believe it."