Page 21 of Caution

But from what?

My…kin?

“A human woman should never have been able to birth a vampire child, especially not one withFirstblood,” Cassius spoke, as if he could hear the thoughts swirling in my mind.

Which… he probably could.

“What are you saying?” I asked. “That there was something special about my mother?”

As I watched, he nodded. “She was likely not purely human herself.”

“Okay what does that mean?”

“That she likely had some level of mystic being in her blood.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Mystic being?”

“An eonian, a Lycan, a witch, a siren—not another vampire, though.”

“Awhat?” I huffed. “You know what? I can’t deal with this. You just made that up, didn’t you? And where are you even taking me?”

“Home,” he answered. “It's been a busy night; you need to decompress.”

“You’re right, I do. And I can do that just fine in my own place, in my own bed.”

“Not until we get some kind of protection at your house.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What, like security guards?”

“Like enchantments. Runes.Realprotection.”

“Enchantments? You mean spells? Hello no,” I replied, shaking my head. “I may not have been to church in a while, but I don't do the witchcraft thing. The spooky shit isn’t for me.”

“It's nothing like what you’re thinking,” he said, laughing, but it was not funny to me.

Not when, in light of everything else, I was remembering my mother's aversion to anything even adjacent to “magic” as I was growing up. She saw it everywhere and reacted in a way that, back then, seemed so unnecessary and extreme to me.

But… Maybe she wasn't tripping as much as I thought.

“I can't have you at your place unprotected,” he spoke, maybe in response to the concern on my face. “What I'm getting at is way more profound, older than anything your mom would've had a problem with. Not unless she was a witch herself. Which I don't think is the case.”

“So…what do you think she was then?” I asked.

“Most likely she was eonian.”

“I don't know what that means,” I huffed and he was quick to explain.

“They're called eternals too. Immortals,” he said. “Sometimes they have certain powers, sometimes they don't. But they live long and age slow. They're not invulnerable unless they can achieve it with their powers.”

“That they may or may not have.”

“Right. They’re unique in that… they can blend in. They aren’t beholden to the phases of the moon, or bloodthirst, any of that. They're the most likely to want to be to themselves, not garner any attention. There's a lot of power and potential in their blood, which could be dangerous for them, and others, if they don't know what they are or how to channel it. It would explain a lot about why those leeches are so attracted to you.”

“How would I find out?”

“We'd have to study your blood most likely. But there are people we can ask. I know a few around here we can talk to, who have settled in Blackwood.”

“So these…mystic beingsas you call them… They're just walking around the city, living among the rest of us, and nobody knows?”

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