Inheritance

Chapter 2: Jack (Part 1)

"I just want to be sure he hasn't. And, regardless of how much Ronan doesn't want the powers he inherited, he still inherited them. It's our job to report this kind of thing to him, if he doesn't already know."

"Agreed. Olive should be able to find him or Rose."

"We'll ask Aunt Rose. If I ask Olive, she'll just try and keep me safe."

"Olive will be too busy with the twins soon to worry about you. She should stop trying to keep you safe, because she cannot."

"You should tell her that," Jack muttered.

Fortunatus consider it for a moment and then shook his head.

"You're scared of her, too." Jack laughed.

The vampire turned towards him. "She is the most powerful witch of our time. She is a new immortal creature and she is with child. It would be very unwise to, how to say it, get on her bad side."

"Coward," Jack whispered.

Fortunatus smiled, showing his fangs. "I must get you away from your father more often. You act more and more like him every day."

"I take that as a compliment." Jack smiled back.

"Now, what's next?" Jack asked, back to business.

"We wait here. Blaine is sending a patrol car over to start getting all the physical evidence, and after we show them the body, we will return to the hotel. I will make my apologies to your teacher, and tomorrow we will go see the Detective and give him a report. After that we will call Rose."

"Then we'll call Ronan and see what he has to say for himself."

"Yes. But he will not be pleased at our contacting of him."

"An innocent is dead. I hardly give a flying shit what he thinks."

"You are shaping up to be a powerful force in the magical world, young Jack. It has been long since one of the humans stood up for his own kind. Not many can walk along the side of the magical as an equal, and you do it with powerful backing. The Hunter's protect the humans, but they do not know many witches, and do not have many connections in the Spiritual Plane as a whole. Your grandfather, Stan, knows of the magical world, but he does not fight for the humans. You are connected and you fight for them."

Jack found something interesting on the ground to look at embarrassed by Fortunatus' compliment.

"Someone needs to do it," he muttered.

Fortunatus stepped from the copse of trees as the patrol car pulled up to the fence. The officer climbed out of his car and pointed his spot light at them.

"You Fortunatus and Jack?"

"Yes we are officer," Jack said keeping his hands where they could be seen.

"Detective Blain said not to ask any questions, just to have you two show me the body."

"We have worked with the Detective before," Fortunatus said.

"So he told me."

The officer put his hands on the top of the large cattle gate and climbed over it. He walked over and Jack pointed out the body with his flashlight. Once the officer checked their identities, they headed back up the road. The stars filled the night sky over them and Zephyr slept in Jack's pocket. He felt the tiny rise and fall of her breathing against his ribs.

"Sometimes I glance up at the stars," Jack said, "and think they are in all the wrong places."

"That is understandable. You spent more time than is normal in a world saturated with magic, you breathed its air, ate its food. One does not leave the Spirit Plane unscathed."

"And I did it as a wolf. I still have wolf dreams."

Fortunatus said nothing.

Jack shook his head. "Just one more thing that makes me different."

"Be thankful you have not had to deal with those differences alone."

"Yeah," Jack said. He looked up at the familiar constellations of Orion and the Big Dipper and wondered if this was the next step. According to Fortunatus, Jack's gifts gave him the responsibility to stand up for the humans. The humans who did not know about the whole magical, spiritual world around them, but who paid in blood anyway. A grim resolve gripped Jack. He made a fist and promised the world of innocents some protection from the things which went bump in the night, from the things far more powerful and long lived than they. Jack drove back to the hotel, and Fortunatus shifted into his hotel room. He opened the door for Jack from the inside.

"I will go wake your teacher, excuse you for a family emergency and we will find another hotel room. I do not wish to explain why I am in the trunk in the morning."

"Okay, I'm sure he'll be glad to see me go. Too bad Akilina's tattoo doesn't still give you power to walk in the sun."

Fortunatus touched the crescent moon tattoo inked into the skin on his chest, an everlasting necklace to remind him of the gift the angel once gave him.

"It is called a curse for a reason, Jack. Get packed."