POV: (Jared)
As Sloane and Cece pulled out of our driveway, my phone call to the Coven ended. Of course I didn't speak to Robert directly but his Secretary. Or 'disciple', whichever. Surprisingly Robert's disciple was almost the complete opposite of his Master. He'd have to be though to not clash personalities with one another. Many members of the Coven had an older member giving them guidance but I'd always preferred to not have those kinds of bonds to someone other than my twin.
Once I was assured that Robert would be on his way soon, I stared off into the living room from the kitchen. With our bond it was easy to sometimes pick up on things that Sloane did. Even though I couldn't see the ghosts standing around my house, the death energy cloaked everything.
It was eery to know that a bunch of dead people were standing around my house but I couldn't change that. Instead of doing nothing as I waited for Robert, I decided to look through some of the other books Sloane had given me yesterday.
Let's see. Transfiguration, Possession, Supernatural Diseases, Shape Changers... ahh, here it is. SkinWalkers.
There were only three pages written about SkinWalkers. It was rare for the Shaman to take on the characteristics of their animal. Most of the time you'd retain your human personality but slip into the skin of your animal.
Well what went wrong with mine? The more I think about it, it's probably because it was a damn werewolf's soul that got shoved into me. Plus it wasn't a mutual blending to begin with like Shaman's have with their spirit totem's.
On closer inspection there was smaller notes regarding specific types of animal totems described in the back of the book. Wolf was one of them. The pages flung dirt and dust into the air as I skimmed through them. When I finally got to the page I was looking for there was merely a paragraph.
"Wolf Totems are the most commonly used among Shaman's because of how easy it is to assimilate together as one. In rare cases a Shaman can pull upon the characteristics of their Spirit Totem without realizing it. If the Spirit Totem is stronger than the Shaman it can even take full possession of the other."
Oh great so I'm possibly going to get possessed by this spirit inside of me.
Almost in answer, the wolf rubbed against my insides. It was uncomfortable feeling nonexistent fur inside of my body rubbing against my skin.
"In severe cases a SkinWalker has been known to join a Werewolf pack. Most pack's will tear the SkinWalker apart after finding out because the Spirit Totem residing inside can strengthen their own wolf."
Since the book was so old I didn't put much thought into that last part. Cane didn't seem like the type who'd kill others for power. And the other wolves were too weak to kill me by themselves. Most of the other information I found about SkinWalkers was just repeating what this book said. None though had talked about Mate's which surprised me. Then again all of these SkinWalkers were Shaman's who assimilated with their Spirit Animal Totems. Where as I had a Werewolve's wolf soul locked inside of me. I didn't know how it differed but I was going to guess that I would take on more Werewolf traits.
Robert knocked on the front door which pulled me from my thoughts. How did I know it was him? Well easy. His knock sounded formal and business-like. Not to mention he could've used the door bell but had always refused to.
What greeted me on the otherside of the door was a man who looked to be in his late twenties which made no sense. Robert was older than my Aunt Beatrix. The fact that he looked young had been the butt of all jokes between Sloane and I growing up. It was an ongoing debate on whether he had used dark magic to keep himself looking young, paid massive amounts of black market products to a fae for a powerful illusion, or many other things. A list was actually posted on a cork board in Sloane's work office.
"Well, hurry and open your barrier to allow my entrance."
I'd learned long ago to ignore the rudeness of Robert. Instead of responding, I simply waved a hand to open up a portion of the ward for him to step through.
He glanced around with distaste but thankfully said nothing as he slowly walked around the living room. His hand lifted and small vibrations, visible to the eye, formed on his palm.
"Yes. Your house is brimming with dead things," he commented. I wasn't all together sure he was just talking about the ghosts or being snarky about my sister.
"Sloane already talked to Jezzebel if you want me to relay what she said."
"No," he snapped," I'd prefer a professional, such as myself, to communicate with the Spirits. No offense to your sister but she has no training in reaching the Shadow Realm."
Robert must've not been given information on my sister since our fight with the ShadowMancer. If he had then he'd have known Sloane could now see corpeal forms of ghosts as well as step into the Shadow Realm. Had she wanted to, she'd have been capable of bringing even her physical body onto that side. It had something to do with our Vampire blood.
"You've got the floor then," I mockingly spread out my hand. It was obvious to everyone in the Coven that I didn't like people talking bad about my twin and Robert just seemed to push the wrong buttons.
While he closed his eyes and began to perform his spell, I decided on sitting in the armchair. It was around this time that I really wished I'd not given Sloane and Celise the idea to leave me here alone with this guy. Even though I was the next in line to become Head of the Spirit Coven it didn't mean Robert and I got along. I'm almost positive the only person who appeared to get along with Robert was his disciple, Chad.
I wish I was making brochures with Celise and Sloane instead of sitting here with Robert. Then again, anyone would want to be anywhere but near him.
My thoughts turned towards Celise as I tuned out Robert muttering an intricate spell under his breath.
What should I do? I've never even had a relationship or even a sexual encounter with a human before, let alone promising a lifelong commitment to one.
Humans were fragile creatures. In this world I lived in, fragility was something that needed to be avoided.
A mate. I had a mate. Soulmate to be precise. There was someone made specifically for me to be my better half.
What should I do though about this information? Acting upon it was the furthest thing from my mind. Changing Celise into a Werewolf or Vampire was the furthest thing from my mind since even after all this time Sloane and I had never done so. We hadn't wanted her to be even more involved in our world than she already was.
After what felt like forever but was only about five minutes, Robert stopped what he was doing and looked over with a frown marring his features. I would've laughed had he not looked so menacing.
"What information did Sloane get out of the ghosts," he said with almost a forced manner. His words came out punctual and clipped, as if it was difficult to get them past his tongue.
My lips pursed as I tried to keep the amusement to myself. "They don't know what killed them because of their sudden deaths. We were hoping that maybe given time they'd regain some of those memories and can remember something about their killer."
Robert seemed split between being relieved and frustrated. My guess was that the relief was from knowing that Sloane hadn't been able to get any information out of the ghosts that he didn't. The frustration was probably because the way they had vanished and shown up dead was worrisome for the other Covens. This seemed like someone or something was targeting Mage's in the city. A whole Coven of Mage's doesn't just show up dead less than 24 hours after they completely disappear from where they were.
"If you gather any new information pertaining to this issue be sure to call Chad with it. I expect a general idea of what we are to look out for within the next two days. The sooner the better, all things considering. Unless you'd rather be in the same position your house guests are in," he spoke over his shoulder before swiftly exiting my house and effectively cutting off any response I could've given him.
"You're welcome and No problem. I'd love to tell my sister to do your job better than you. Asshole," I mumbled before making sure the wards were still secure.
Now I had to figure out what I was going to do until we opened for work at noon. Looking at the clock hanging on the wall it was just a little bit after ten now.
Maybe they're are Shamans that I can talk to who live in the city.
If worse comes to worse I can always head into the black market and seek out one. Of course that would be my last resort since most of the people who decide to live in the black market pocket dimension were either very bad people or were hiding from something.
In my room, underneath a pile of books regarding magic incantations, I found what I had been looking for. It was much like the yellow pages for Supernatural creatures who had businesses. It even included Witches and Magicians in it. Which was surprising because most of the others deemed them too human to be labeled a Supe. Of course they weren't wrong with that assumption.
Witches and Magicians were humans with abilities to perform small spells, fortune telling, and other small gimmicks. They weren't born with magic like Mage's or the Fae were but took magic from earth forcefully. Many look down on them because of this. For Mage's and Fae the earth gave it's magic freely as a mother would give it's love to their child but what they did by forcefully taking that magic was a sort of taboo. Kind of like stealing money from your mom's purse when she's not looking.
I flipped the books pages until I got to the section marked for S's.
Seelie, Seer, Slicer, Slim Fast.. definitely not the kind of slim fast humans are used to. Damn fat eating Vampires. Ah, here it is. Shamans.
Underneath the word were about four entries of local Shamans in the city. One specialized in herbal medicines, another divinations, the last two were both an unknown. Underneath their names and numbers was just a blank space.
I suppose starting with the first two would make more sense.
Instead of giving them a call now, I decided to head over to work and get everything taken care of there before finding a Shaman who would have any information that I didn't about SkinWalkers. Sloane and Celise could probably handle clients just fine but I'd feel better knowing that I didn't leave them to fend for themselves last minute.
Unlike my sister, I preferred driving a motorcycle for transport instead of a metal contraption that cut me off from most of the elements. I wasn't one of those environmentalist even though I would rather not have things that caused pollution, much like cars did. When you are given the strength of the elements it's much like a mother willingly nurturing a baby inside of their womb. That kind of attachment makes the one being provided to form a bond of love and care. The elements can get sick just like a living being- that's what pollution does to it.
I still have my 2000 Honda CR-V that I'd bought when I was still in highschool but I preferred using the bike instead. The only time I used my car was when I was bringing Celise and Sloane with me somewhere. Usually though, Sloane wanted to drive. Which meant Celise and I got to fight over who got shotgun. Sloane's backseat was so compact that my legs almost felt glued to my chest by the end of the trip on the rare occasions I lost to Celise.
I finally parked my bike outside of our office that sat catty corner to a Starbucks. Seemed there was one of those stores on every corner. For a second I sat admiring the Vulcan ABS that I'd put a lot of money and hard work into. It was a pitch black with splashes of light blue nearly teal stitched into the leather seat. At night the two lights inserted in the rims would light up, making the wheels glow as they spun alongside the road.
Clouds covered the sky, only giving slight glimpses of the sun that lay beneath them. As I approached the door to our work, I noticed the shadows that lurked in the alley near the side. A frown appeared on my face but I shrugged it off as the typical shadows thrown off from the sun being blocked.
In bold letters; CLOSED, stood out on the door at the entrance to our building. Looked like Celise and Sloane had kept the doors locked while they were hard at work on their brochures.
Handing out brochures to the Supernatural community.. what a hilarious concept. I can't wait to see the reactions on some of these old geezers' faces.
My keys twirled around my pointer finger before I grabbed the key for the front door to step into the heated building. The front office looked like a dentist space with the framed photos of beautiful scenery and uncomfortable chairs. We even put in a little section in the corner set aside for toys. Sometimes clients brought in their children with them and unfortunately we didn't have a children center so more often than not, Celise got stuck with child duty.
"Jared, you've gotta check out these bad ass brochures Cece and I made!"
No matter if there hadn't been bells on the door or not, Sloane would've known when I was close because of our connection. It made trying to scare her growing up the hardest. Don't even mention hide and seek. She'd always been better than I at tapping into our bond. Which used to upset me that she could get into my head yet I couldn't do the same.
"Be there in a second," I replied as I hung my keys up behind the front desk that had Celise's things scattered across it.
In the back room where the copy machine as well as extra supplies were; Sloane and Celise sat on two spinning chairs almost huddled next to it. Next to them was a mountain of paper- well two to be exact. One montain of paper was piled next to Sloane in disarray while the one next to Celise was properly folded in typical brochure fashion.
"Okay. Tell us what you think of it," Sloane demanded as she held a brochure in my direction before mumbling, "Well it's not like your opinion matters at this point since we've already printed and copied. It's nice to get praise though."
She'd handed me one that was already folded with the cover facing me. On the front there were two hands giving one another a hand shake with all capital letters SPARC above them. Below the hands were the words 'Making our world a better place' which was funny to me because I'm almost positive that line was used for a recycling ad or something. When I flipped it open the next four pages were questions and answers with little doodles drawn occasionally of a smiley face with fangs or a smiley face with a fluffy tail. On the back was a blown up emoji like drawing of a little wizard wearing a gown and cap with stars while he pointed a wand at the person viewing the page- writing above his head stated 'WE WANT YOU!'.
"Really? I'm almost stunned out of words to say in regards to this," I responded with a held back laugh. Celise was laughing so much that she wasn't actually making noise anymore as she held her stomach. Sloane rolled her eyes in exasperation as if to say 'I'm being serious and I've got to deal with two comedians."
"Aside from the sterotypical images you've inserted, I think the whole thing gets your message across loud and clear. You should think about renting another space though because this office isn't going to be big enough for this kind of project."
"Good idea. I'll think about that when I get the time. Oh, some lady called and wanted to schedule an appointment with you. Before you ask, you specifically, so no I can't take over for you. I'm also trying to keep my night open in case Dimitri calls so if there's nothing majorly important for me to do please try to avoid unloading on me."
I gave her the look she deserved with the whole Dimitri thing, which she pointedly ignored. "Oh how was our plastic surgery case when you saw him?"
There was no need to ask who she was talking about. "His usual chipper self. I think he was actually mad that you didn't get more information than him."
"He's mad that he sucks ass and I'm better than him with reaching the Shadow Realm. Don't let his tweazed eyebrows fool you."
The brochure fluttered down to the folded pile before I turned to head to my office. I yelled over my shoulder, "Oh, forgot to tell you, Robert wants you to get more info out of the ghosts when you get home."
"Son of a bitch" was growled through the door that had shut behind me as I headed for my office. Good thing I had decided to come into work before going to call and find the Shaman's listed in our Supernatural yellow pages. First, it was time to call this lady to see why she requested for me to work her case. That never bode well, when to many strange things happen close together.