Unknown L (Book 1)

~~ Truths, Decisions And Plans ~~

Bryce paused and smiled down at her. "Are you with me so far?"

L didn't know what to say. Her mind was spinning. "I think so, just keep going."

"Well, I don't know everything. Vadim and the others only explained it to me briefly, but I think we can figure it out like this. Anyway, every Supernatural creature wants to keep them safe, but several decades ago, the Keepers numbers began to dwindle quite rapidly, and for a time nobody knew why... Then, when your parents were young, they somehow discovered what had been happening.

"A powerful Demon-hybrid named Frallica, stupid name I know, had been killing the Keepers off one by one. She'd heard some old tale or prophecy that if she killed the last in the line of Keepers that the knowledge they all contained, and in turn all of their abilities, would flow into her. Since Keepers were a guarded secret from evil, and Demons in general, she couldn't have known who would be the last in line... so she went after them all.

"Your parents decided to put a plan into action that would stop her. They were going to set up a trap with the help of every one of the species they were guarded by; between all of them, they'd be able to take down Frallica. They set up the Council and brought species' together who had been out of contact for centurie. It was an incredible feat.

"Our world calls it The Rising. It took a long time to organise, but they were successful in getting every species to agree to the plan. The problem was that they found out Frallica also had her own forces. Demon hordes who would come together and fight for her and it wouldn't be as simple as just going in and taking out Frallica like they thought.

"There would be mass fighting, lots of lives would be lost, and there was no way to be certain they would even win. At the last minute, your parents decided it wasn't worth risking everyone's lives just for theirs. At the time, everyone was furious that they'd been whipped up into a frenzy just to be let down. It wasn't until a few weeks after that, that everyone found out your mother was pregnant... with you...

"That changed everything. Everyone took a step back after that. They knew what your birth would mean. You'd be in danger from the moment you were born. At the time you were conceived, you became the last in the line of Keepers... and for all we know, you still are."

Bryce stopped there and was watching L closely. L realised her jaw was hanging open. She wasn't sure what she had expected to hear, but it wasn't anything remotely close to that.

She'd thought Bryce was going to give her a little lesson on her abilities, and that would be it. She had somehow managed to get an entire telling of her own story in just half an hour.

She gaped at Bryce, who was still staring at her, and he winced.

"Did I overwhelm you?"

L couldn't bring herself to speak at first. She had just been told she was in the middle of a world war, and he seriously wondered if she was overwhelmed. She leaned back into the sofa and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"I... I don't even know where to begin. So, I'm supposed to be one of these Keepers? Or the last one, apparently...?"

Bryce nodded and moved to perch on the edge of the coffee table in front of her. He looked worried and almost as if he wanted to reach out to her. L was glad he didn't.

"Yes, you are, I know it's a lot to take in. I only found out most of this yesterday morning, and I've had over twenty-four hours to process it. It's pretty hard to work through. I know your parents left soon after giving instructions to Vadim and were never heard from again. Vadim and the others have ideas on what happened next, but it's only speculation and guesses. It makes sense now why they hid you from this world, though, doesn't it?"

L didn't answer him straight away. Every part of the puzzle she'd found on her journey up to this point was finally piecing together. She felt like her head might explode.

She looked to Bryce, her mind racing. "All this time, though, why didn't I realise that this whole other world existed? If it was in my blood to see and learn about it all, then why wasn't I able to see it? I didn't even have the faintest idea."

Bryce's brow knitted together, and it made his eyes curve higher.

"I think it was part of your parents' plan to hide you. They keep the Supernatural world away from you, and in turn, you are kept away from it as well. But it could be like I said before, you just didn't believe in any of what you saw. You're not the most open-minded person, you know?"

L didn't react to him with a remark of her own. Instead, she sat in silence, thinking back over her entire life and how this changed things. She had never really struggled with anything except feelings; the things she did try, like school, running away, fighting, and even gymnastics, she was really good at.

She'd always wondered why her parents had left her, what could have been their reason. Even when Bryce had first tried to explain she hadn't believed him, she wasn't sure yet if she did. But something was going on here. Something about it was nagging at the back of her mind.

She stood up suddenly and made Bryce jump, which would have amused her if things had been different.

"I want you to show me something else, prove to me that I am what you say I am. It has to be something extraordinary that couldn't be a fluke, flipping was too... normal."

Bryce gazed at her in alarm and stood up from his perch on the table, shaking his head.

"I can't do that. Like I explained before, you have to have a knowledge of the ability or power before you can use it yourself. I don't know what will happen if you don't, Vadim wouldn't tell me, probably just in case I came here and did exactly this... in fact, he probably knew I would."

Bryce sighed. He was likely going to be in trouble for doing this, but L wasn't about to be put off that easily.

"Well, nothing dangerous then, just something easy but that I shouldn't be able to do myself. Elf magic or whatever you know personally, give me a basic action that you can teach me yourself."

Bryce faltered as though he was about to argue. He fell silent, and L could imagine the cogs turning in his brain while he tried to think of a smart way out of this.