A Dangerous Legacy Pt. 10

"They were meant to be a compliment to one another but something happened and in their youth they were driven apart, it split their entire clan. As they aged, they grew more powerful. The girl, your ancestor, learned to give some magic to the women of her clan. It would be passed onto their first born, be they boy or girl, and in the future generations it would stay male or female. The boy decided to pass his along to the children he sired himself, and of the children of those children only the strongest could become a sorcerer.

"As the darkness grew at a slower rate it was weaker, and so the boy called to him the creatures most feared in the dark, and his power made them into dragons and vampires. He wrought nightmares to plague humans and keep them from aiding the witches. Witches responded by binding human and wolves together, creating us. At first we were allies, nothing more.

"What started the actual physical war between magic bearers is unknown. There was a stalemate of sorts, but with the forces of dark preying on witches of light their numbers thinned. It was slow, and all the while on our own we werewolves and vampires had our own war. Three thousand years ago we ended the vampires, and the dragons turned on us, our numbers thinning. Two thousand years ago the witches struck the accord with us so they could regain their power. One thousand years ago the dragons retreated from our world until their numbers cannot be counted, and many think they have died out, or bred so much with sorcerers there are none left who can actually change forms.

"When the allies of darkness died and the light had us, we called a stalemate. We allowed the dark to catch up to our numbers and for near five hundred years now it's been an uneasy peace as the numbers are equal. Their king Malachi has no heirs and now that you have been found neither do you, so war risks too much."

"So the war means nothing, truly?" I asked, hope blooming. Perhaps "war" was just a term, a meaningless term.

Pierre nodded after checking with Andre. "There is no war right no, but there is still cause for concern. Should either of you fall with no heir, all magic dies. We, being creatures of magic, will die too."

Holy shit, I thought. A world without spells I could easily deal with, but all these poor wolves dying...not kosher. My brain simply couldn't come up with a better word for the horror that that would be.

"This point keeps being brought to my attention? Do I have anything to fear? Who would want to end all magic? Surely no wolf."

Jericho rose from his perch, eyes solemn. "It will not be a wolf that kills you, or tries. It was not a wolf that killed Sigrid, or Inga before her, or Freya before her. All your ancestors were killed by a witch."

"That's going back almost four thousand years!" Julian cried.

Jericho nodded. "I am older than that. I can remember the first days of the Vampire War."

"Then who did it?" Andre asked quietly.

Jericho's eyes met mine. "One who lies, one who pretends to be younger."

I knew with that and shock rolled through, burning away puzzlement and leaving rage in its wake. "Alessandra."