“I am what I am,” Alston answered, seemingly unfazed by her question. “What you call evil, I call progress. There is no reason that supernatural beings should have to live in hiding.”
“Did you ever think there might be a different way to reveal yourselves other than making humans your slaves?” she challenged.
Alston shook his head. “Humans react to fear with violence. I have lived a very, very long time, healer, and I have watched them over and over attack that which they do not understand. They wouldn’t give us time to explain ourselves. The bullets would be flying and the bombs dropping before we had time to say anything other than ‘we aren’t human.’”
Sally wished she could argue with him, but she couldn’t promise him that wouldn’t happen. Cornered prey had a tendency to lash out. And though humans weren’t animals, they still reacted as such when they felt like prey. They’re natural reaction was to stay alive and to do whatever it takes to keep breathing.
“So, you need my magic. How is it that you are going to take it?”
“You’re going to willingly give it to us, Sally. You know we will hurt your mate and child. Do not think I have any weakness in me, not even for the young. I will do whatever it takes to move our agenda forward. And I now know that you’re not the only powerful healer in this world. Turns out, Perizada has been greedy, keeping some other healers to herself. It's not fair of her to squirrel them away from the rest of the supernatural world. After all, healers are something to be celebrated, not sheltered.”
“Pretty sure that when there are psychopaths who want to exploit and use them, it’s definitely better to keep them hidden,” Sally said and then mentally slapped her hand over her mouth. Okay, maybe she was channelingtoo muchof her inner Jen. Or maybe something inside her had been fundamentally altered after what she’d been through. She wasn’t going to be the quiet mouse who simply tried to go unnoticed anymore. But she still needed to be careful and not get her child and mate hurt because of her lack of a filter.
Alston ignored her comment and began to pace around the room. Sally turned with his movement, keeping him in front of her. She felt chill bumps rise on her skin, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. The power emanating from the high fae was palpable. She’d felt a similar thing around Peri, but Alston’s felt different, twisted and malicious.
“Whydo you need my magic?” Sally was stalling but also hoping he would give away some information that might somehow help the pack when she and the other prisoners got away, because theywouldget away. There was no way in Hades they were going to be held captive by Alston and his army of crazies indefinitely.
“I suppose there is no harm in telling you.” He made a motion with his hand. Suddenly, two chairs appeared, resting on the far side away from the exit, behind the creepy one in the center of the room. The lights had also brightened so that Sally could finally see her surroundings clearly. The room was bigger than she’d first thought. The walls were black. Super original. The carpet was a pattern of grey and black. She noticed a door on the opposite side of the one she’d entered. Two possible escape routes. Okay, now she really sounded like Jen.Reel it in, Sally. She felt Costin in her mind, but he seemed to be staying in the shadows, allowing her to keep her complete focus on Alston.
She sat down in the chair he indicated as he took the chair next to hers. The three fae stayed on the other side of the room, guarding the door that Sally couldn’t possibly get to even if there’d been only one fae. Total overkill on the security.
“You know about much of the supernatural world I imagine,” Alston began. Sally nodded. “But you do not know everything.” He paused as if awaiting a response, but she stayed quiet, so, he continued. “There are more realms of races than those you’ve heard about in stories. Most of them have not entered the human realm in centuries.”
“And they suddenly want to?” Sally asked.
Alston held up his finger. “Patience. I’m getting there.”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes. He was a man who liked the sound of his own voice. But if it delayed whatever they were going to do to steal her magic, then she’d let him drone on until the cows came home.
“It’s not necessarily that they want to come to the human realm. They might not have a choice. When you first learned of the supernatural world, you had to have heard about how the magic between the veils is weakening.”
Sally did remember hearing about the magic waning in some of the magical realms, but she couldn’t remember why.
“If the magic that protects their veils fail, then humans will be able to pass through the veils at will,” Alston continued.
“Isn’t that a reasonnotto reveal yourself?” Sally asked. “If humans don’t know you exist, then they don’t know about the veils and cannot learn how to go through them.”
“They can’t get through them now. But what about when the magic has weakened enough that a human wandering through the forest stumbles through one? What happens if he comes back and tells everyone he knows of his experience? And when they don’t believe him, he brings them to the spot where the veil is located and leads them straight through it. What then? What do you think will happen to the supernaturals that live in those realms? They grow weaker along with the magic.”
“How does coming to the human realm make them stronger?” Sally’s brow furrowed. It didn’t make sense for a magical being to come into a non-magical realm and get stronger.
“You ask this because you believe the human realm is non-magical.” His grin made it apparent that he thought this very humorous.
“I’ve lived here my whole life. If there was magic floating around, I think I would have noticed. Humans don’t have magic.”
“Yet you knew nothing of theCanis lupusand the other supernatural beings living all around you. You didn’t even know you were a magical creature,” he pointed out. “The five healers Peri has been hoarding suggest the human realm is very magical indeed. You all are very powerful. And theCanis lupushave never lived in any other realm. The vampires live in the human realm, and though they feed on blood, they live very long lives. That isn’t just a random anomaly. It is magic.”
Holy wolf balls.Sally had never thought of it like that. Alston was right. The human realm was full of magic. How manyCanis lupuslived all over the world? And vampires? Their magic would be concentrated wherever they existed. And what about the warlocks? They lived in a mountain, but it was in the human realm. They’d come because their magic had been growing weak in their own realm.
“So, you see,” Alston said softly, “we have to come here. We have to give our races a place to live and thrive.”
“But that doesn’t mean you can’t share it with the humans. The wolves don’t go around killing humans. They live alongside them.”
“In hiding,” Alston bit out through clenched teeth.
Dude really had a problem with being in hiding. Maybe he was a narcissist. Sally eyed him as he sat regally in his chair, as if it were a throne instead of a simple metal chair. Yep, definite narcissist.
“Okay, so back to why you need my magic in particular,” she said.
