The Fallen Ch. 03

So I can resurrect my mother?

"No. She is too long dead. Even at our full strength we could not perform such a miracle. This human body is...limiting."

Maybe. Maybe not. I should still try!

"If such a thing were possible we would be the first to suggest we do so, but we cannot lie to ourselves. It is impossible for us, on both counts."

Then I'll have Emma and Graves send me back in time far enough that I can!

"It is unlikely they would assist us in such an endeavor, if they even could. If we could even find them again. Mages are capricious creatures who help or harm as they see fit, according to their unknowable whims."

I know Cassandriel speaks true, but I can't let it go.

How can you be so sure? I still have to try!

"Please cease with this petulance. We do not wish to argue with ourself for the remainder of this ride home over a fruitless and impossible task."

I can sense Cassandriel's rising irritation, though it's more a feeling of being angry with myself. Fine. You can bet we'll discuss it later, though. I have to bite back this sudden swirl of emotions at the thought of getting my mother back. It's a while before I can regather my thoughts.

You called Emma and Graves "mages". What do you know about them?

"About those two in particular? Nothing. As far as we know we have never seen them before."

How about in general.

"Mages are mortal, and as such resist being stuffed into neat little categories. Their beliefs and methods are as varied as mankind itself, but they all hold one thing in common. They have the power to break and remake reality according to their will.

"However, this power seems to be tied to the belief paradigms of humanity at large. When being witnessed by normal men and women, a mage's abilities are stifled by disbelief. The more skeptical the viewers and the greater their numbers, the more difficult a mage's magic becomes. A foolish or careless mage does not tend to last long, as this magic can literally explode in their face when this backlash of disbelief is too great."

So if they try to throw a fireball in the middle of Times Square they're gonna have a bad day?

"Exactly. Their more subtle and believable magics have a much greater chance of success without backlash. For instance, a mage stands at a locked door with the uninitiated all around. If he simply uses his magic to will the door open the risk of backlash would be very high. If he gets out a set of lock picks and pretends to be picking the lock while willing to door open there is virtually no risk of backlash."

But with no viewers around...

"Without witnesses a mage is free to unleash their full might."

Then with Danni and I right there how were Graves and Emma able to...

"Other beings of supernatural power do not count. Since we already understand there is more to the world than the mundane we carry no disbelief and therefore create no backlash."

What about us Eternals? Are we affected by this "backlash"?

"No. To the best of our knowledge the mages are the only ones, and don't ask why. We have no idea."

Alright, I think I understand. So, you were telling me about the House of Reavers and what I can do.

"Ah, yes. As a Reaver we may also employ shadow to hide our presence and create illusion. At our current ability level we must remain stationary to hide, and our illusions are only brief, distracting hallucinations at the edges of a single target's periphery."

How ironic. I think of all the times I wished I could just vanish from people's sight, and now that I actually can I don't really want to. So is that it? What about my super-girl strength?

"We also posses affinities for other Houses, which grants us some of their gifts as well. Our great strength comes from the House of The Fundament. This house deals mostly with the manipulation of solid matter, inhuman strength being possible in the beginning stages of it's teachings."

Cool. So what else?

"Our other, and last, affinity is with The House of Anima, the disciplines of the mind. We are immune to the mind control of other supernatural beings, we may speak mentally with other Eternals within our view, and we have the ability to levitate small objects with our mind."

Wow...I'm telekinetic? So I could, for instance...

I concentrate on the bottled water in the center console's cup holder, trying to imagine it floating upward. My breath catches in my throat when it jiggles and then begins to rise in the air unsteadily. The fact that it worked stuns me so much it breaks my concentration, and the bottle falls back in place. I marvel at how easy that was, how natural.

"Knowing we can do a thing is half of being able to do it. Also, now that we are fully awakened we will find these things do come naturally. As we practice we will get stronger and our abilities will grow."

Is there anything else I can do?

"There is one last thing, and it is called the Eternal Form. As a Reaver we may change into a shadowy, cloaked body of shifting darkness. Taking on this form makes us grow in height, and our wings cannot be hidden away at that point. Deadly, blade-like claws will grow from our fingertips. We'll become stronger, faster, and tougher than we are now, able to give out and take much more of a beating. We may also teleport from one shadow to another as long as it is within our sight."

That sounds like it could seriously scare the living shit out of people.

"It is guaranteed to do so. Need we warn ourself against doing such in a crowded elevator?"

No. Don't freak out the locals and all that. Got it, for the third time.

"This is important. The mortal world at large is unaware of our existence, and it is best kept that way for the most part. If they become aware of us..."

They'd want to stamp us out. I get it...fear of the unknown and things that are different. I think about how right Cassandriel is on this matter, and I resolve myself to follow this simple rule. My nerdy side is so freaking stoked at all of this, but I also realize juggling forklifts in public could cause unwanted consequences.

"Good. We are glad we're in agreement with ourself. However, there will be exceptions."

Oh? How so?

"Belief and love are very powerful energies. We thrive on these energies, this quintessence, and we starve when denied their glorious bounty."

Eloquent words, but what exactly do they mean?

"We need the love of those close to us and the belief of a small number of mortals to empower us. The faith of mortals in our divine puissance must be cultivated, but to pick those to which we reveal ourself must be done with caution. We will help guide in this, but it is an essential task in order for us to stay filled with quintessence. This quintessence is what powers our abilities, our healing, and our Eternal Form. Without it we are little more than an extremely hard to kill mortal."

Yeah, about that being hard to kill part...how did I survive being shot in the head and only get a nasty headache?

"With or without quintessence we can only be killed in one of two ways. First, we die if our body is completely destroyed."

For instance, if I get my head cut off?

"No. An inconvenience to be sure, but not deadly by itself. Examples of things that could kill us would include being incinerated in a fire of sufficient heat or being submerged in a powerful enough acid.

"Gunshot wounds, stabs, blunt force trauma, and dismemberment are not enough to kill us. They will only slow us down. The pain of too many wounds can eventually render us unconscious or immobilize us, but being hurt in this way cannot destroy us outright. Getting our head lopped off, however, is an instant knockout. We would recommend against letting this happen as it can and does lead to other actions against our helpless body."

Damn. I could survive getting my head cut off? That's pretty hard-core. So what about stuff like drowning or starving?

"Though we require air and sustenance, if we are denied such for too long our body goes into a death-like state of hibernation."

And to think I was scared of those two crack-heads, Benny and Bear.

"They never posed a threat to us. Not in the slightest."

It suddenly hits me that Trina understood this, as she knew what Danni and I are before we did. Trina's words in the forest ring in my mind. She'd spoken about us not being allowed there and asserted we were breaking some sort of "accord". Then she seemed surprised that Thomas had not told us this, which implies he's an Eternal as well.

"We know not of this accord with the lupines, but it becomes obvious other Eternals have reached an agreement not to encroach on their lands. So yes, Trina knew those drug addicts would never be able to hurt us. We believe she used our lack of full knowledge about ourself to terrorize us, to attempt to ensure our silence about the activities we witnessed. From Trina's words it become obvious that Thomas is one of us. It is also highly likely Christopher and Chiaki are Eternals as well."

Chiaki's little tiff with Trina in the student union replays briefly through my mind, taking on an entirely new meaning full of subtext and questions. I shake my head, wondering at the connection between Trina, the other werewolves, and Thomas.

So Trina wasn't really trying to kill Danni and I. That's good to know. Boy did she have me fooled into thinking she's a total psycho. I do know one thing, though. Trina sure did have the whole "alpha-female" thing going on...so different from the vapid, mean-girl persona she shows at school. Then there's how she was with Nathan in the forest.

Most people only wear two masks, one public and one private. Trina, it would seem, has many masks, and I ponder how many more she possesses and how complex her life must be. Which of her faces is the real one? Her sexy interlude with Nathan makes me wonder if deep down Trina is just a harmless little cuddle-bunny who simply craves love, understanding, and acceptance.

"Do not make the mistake of thinking any lupine is harmless. This brings me to the second thing that may end our life. The teeth, claws, and fangs of other supernatural creatures, including other Eternals, will kill us the same as any mortal. Get our throat ripped open by a raging werewolf and we are quite possibly done for."

Okay, so don't piss off "The Trina". Gotcha. Forgive my morbid curiosity, Cassie, but maybe you know...

"What did we just call us?"

Uh, Cassie? I dunno...just a nickname. Is that okay?

"Yes. We like it. We are glad we are fond enough of ourself to give us such a moniker."

That's good. Since I'm a woman I'd rather think of you as a woman, too. I don't like the thought of a man in my head telling me what to do.

Cassandriel's voice suddenly takes on a decidedly feminine lilt.

"To be frank we are neither male nor female, but as we wish."

Well that didn't take much convincing.

"We can be agreeable when we desire."

Cool. So anyway...Trina and Nathan?

"Ah, yes. We wish to know why she called Nathan 'brother'? The wolves have a strict taboo against two full-blooded lupines mating. Though it always produces full-blooded werewolf offspring, they are without fail born with an incurable and dangerous insanity and must be destroyed.

"This is why they consider it incest, and it is why the full-bloods call each other 'brother' or 'sister'. It is a reminder and a warning against falling in love with another full-blood. Trina's use of the term implies Nathan is also a full-blooded lupine, and their actions would bring heavy consequences down on them. Such a thing carries the penalty of exile, a harsh punishment to the very social lupines."

Well that would suck, and it explains why Trina was in psycho-bitch mode. Even though I was on the receiving end of her dark mojo, I can understand why she went all supercunt on me. I'm still mad about it, sure, but no harm no foul I suppose. Heck, I can almost sympathize with her.

You can't help who you fall in love with. It just sort of happens. I know. It sure did creep up and blindside me. I imagine it did the same with Trina and Nathan. I sigh, realizing what I saw wasn't merely a dirty little kink. It was full-on werewolf incest. I wonder if I'll need therapy now.

Although...I grin a little when it hits me I have ammunition to fire at Trina should she prove...bitchy again. I'll have to be careful how I use it, but this knowledge could prove useful.

So anyway...werewolves have children, eh? How do they make uh..."normal" werewolf babies, and does that mean their bite won't turn other people into werewolves?

"No, their bite does not pass on lycanthropy. They are not 'cursed', and there is no 'cure' for what they are. The lupines are simply a different branch of humanity that is more in touch with the natural and spirit world.

"A lupine breeds with a mortal. The offspring of this union is known as a 'half-blood'. Another lupine mates with this half-blood. Non-full-blood births result in more half-bloods, but about one in fifty pregnancies results in a full-blooded lupine child. Such births are rare and an occasion for celebration and festival among their kind."

So they probably fuck like rabbits to keep their population up, yes?

"Indeed."

Seems like you know quite a bit about the werewolves.

"We do know a lot about them, and just a tip...don't call one a werewolf to their face. It's a term coined by mortals, and they despise it. With a passion. Call them 'lupine' or 'wolf' unless we actually want to get our face bit off."

Good to know since I'm pretty sure I don't want my face ending up as someone's lunch. So how do you know so much about them?

"A tale for later. For now it is better we discuss us."

Fair enough. There are so many questions swirling around my head at the moment, and it's hard to focus on a single one. Oh, I know! What in the fricking frick was that creature that stabbed Trina and then chased us?

"We suspect he was a Vampire."

No shit?

"Yes, vampires do exist. We know very little of their social structures or politics, but they exist within every major city of man. At least that is what we were told once, and we trust the source. In our dealings with vampires we've learned they are deceitful and treacherous creatures with their own alien, inhuman agendas. If there is one piece of advice to be given it is never trust one."

Alright. I'll keep that in mind. What else do you know about them?

"They can be destroyed through decapitation, fire, and sunlight. Also, like us, they can be killed if damaged enough by the fangs, teeth, and claws of other supernatural beings. They possess widely varied abilities, much as Eternals and lupines do, and they use blood to empower these gifts. Thus, the legends of their blood drinking are true.

"Vampires are undead, and as such are immune to that which would not affect a corpse. Things such as suffocation, drowning, drugs, diseases, or extremes of cold and heat do nothing to them."

What about crosses, running water, garlic, holy water...you know, all that movie stuff?

"Stick a cross in a vampire's face, and they will probably rip it from our grasp and stab us with it. As far as those other items go they are worse than worthless."

If I get bit by a vampire will I...

"No. That is not how they pass along their curse. We are unsure of the specifics, but we do know it takes more than being bitten by a vampire to become one, otherwise we would be waist deep in the undead. As a whole, vampire society also seems to have a code of behavior to which they adhere. The first rule appears to be stay hidden and not announce their presence to the mortal world."

The first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about fight club.

"Excuse us?"

Just seems like everyone else prefers to keep things on the down-low, too. Probably for the same reasons we have to, right?

"Correct. Which brings me to their second rule. They frown on the deaths of mortals and seems to have clearly delineated hunting grounds. As we had a vampire tell us once 'you can't milk a dead cow'. This isn't to suggest vampires never kill, but they avoid it as much as possible. Bodies draw questions and investigation from the mortal world. When in a bigger city at night it behooves one to watch their step, though. Some of the vampires can recognize what we are, and they find our blood highly desirable."

Yeah, that vampire was scary fast and a lot stronger than me. I thought for sure he was going to bite my neck.

"Honestly, he was a more powerful example of their species. He was likely an elder of their kind. Most newly minted vampires we've encountered were not that dangerous, though it pays to never underestimate them."

Uh-huh. Just ask Trina.

"There is an incredibly long history of animosity between wolves and vampires. The lupines hate them and will destroy them on sight. The wolves see them as unnatural abominations that deserve destruction. For their part, vampires prefer to avoid outright physical conflict unless they have some sort of decisive advantage. Like sneaking up from behind and stabbing a lone lupine with a silver sword."

I recall how that vampire had appeared out of nowhere to spear Trina from behind. So, I guess the lupines are susceptible to silver?

"Yes, but it won't instantly kill them. Lupines are incredibly resilient and able to heal most wounds quickly, but not those caused by silver. They also cannot heal at all when in human form, but in human form silver does not have it's normal effect. Often in battle, if a lupine knows their opponent is using silver, they will shift to human form so they may heal any wounds later by shifting to a different form."

I ponder the screwed up GPS from my memories of the night that never happened. Would it be possible for a lupine to affect technology?

"We wonder if Trina was responsible for the gee pee ess device malfunctioning? Yes, this is very possible. From the perspective of a lupine all of these electronic things are powered by 'spirits'. What humans see as science the wolves see as simply another part of the natural world, a world full of spirits that they have kinship with. One branch of lupine disciplines deals with the manipulation of these technological spirits."

I was right to suspect Trina messing with the car and our phones.

"Yes. Trina is the most likely culprit in this case."

Hmm. I suppose Graves was right when he said Trina brought about her own death. So how do I kill a werewolf?

"We should never do so. It would be an egregious error."

Seriously? Even if one is attacking me?

"Always diplomacy first with the lupines. Even if they are in the wrong we bow and scrape and apologize until they forgive us. We cannot stress this enough. A single, enraged lupine can potentially destroy this body, and they rarely travel alone. It is why we always befriend the wolves of any new area our kind move into. Unlike vampires, the lupines have a rigid code of honor that demands they keep their word once it is given, and they do not give it lightly. Friendship earned from a wolf is for life."

Okay, but if one attacks me? Hypothetically, how do I kill it?

"Decapitation, fire, obliteration, or sufficient silver wounds while they're in one of their wolf forms. Also the fangs, teeth, and claws of the supernatural will work."