“I'm sorry, Head Councilman,” I waved him forward. “But you've arrived just in time. The Kavanaughs have just finished telling us about the witch clan called Flight, and they're about to tell us about the other clans in the Coven.”
“Otherclans? TheCoven?” Teagan's eyes went round as he took a seat beside me, across from the table from the twins.
“Please continue,” I said to the twins.
“The Coven is a collection of witch clans,” Alexis began. “They consider themselves to be true witches, while those who are born outside of the clans, are not.”
“Like Shaman Chepaney?” I asked her.
“Yes,” Alex took over. “He is what they call bloodless, an aberration. Most witches are born among the Coven.”
“So that's what she meant,” I shared a look with Torquil.
“She?” Tiernan asked.
“This witch who called me a traitor and bloodless,” I explained.
“They thought you were one of them?” Raza asked. “That's interesting.”
“Go on then,” Murdock growled. “Tell us the rest.”
“Stop snapping at us, Councilman, and we will,” Alexis gave Murdock an annoyed look,
“Sorry,” Murdock muttered and sat back into his chair with a huff.
“There are eight clans,” Alex looked to Councilman Teagan. “They are called; Flight, Pack, Bite, Storm, Flame, Tide, Quake, and Beckoning. Each has a specific talent.”
“Eight,” I whispered. “So many. Start with Pack please.”
“Pack witches are shapeshifters,” Alexis answered. “Mostly wolves but sometimes others are born, like foxes and horses.”
“Foxes and horses,” I looked to Teagan and realized that I hadn't told him the most important part. “Councilman, it appears that these witches are descended from fairies. The merging took place so many generations back that the fey blood has been diluted to the point of near non-existence. In most humans, this would mean that they might inherit slanted eyes or high cheekbones, some random fey gene. But it seems that, as with most dominant genes, fairy genes can pop up several generations in the future. The fey magic returned but it altered, giving the descendants of raven mockers dark healing. And it seems that we also have shapeshifters whose ancestors could have been cu-sidhe or bargests,” I gave Conri an apologetic look. “Or even kitsune, from the sound of it.”
“Dormant genes,” Teagan mused. “And we never caught it.”
“Don't feel so bad,” Tiernan sighed. “Neither did we and it appears that we were the source.”
“Okay, Extinguisher Alexis,” I looked back to the telepath. “Is that the only talent of Pack? Shapeshifting?”
“No; all witches can do little spells in addition to their main talents,” Alexis shrugged.
“That sounds rather familiar as well,” I glanced at Tiernan and he nodded grimly. “Spells like what?”
“Little things within nature,” Alex explained. “They can make plants grow, call the wind forth, protect their homes from burglary.”
“Okay,” Teagan frowned thoughtfully. “What about the other clans. The next is Bite, is that correct?”
“Bite,” Alex nodded. “They're very similar to the legend of vampires. Bite witches drink blood and use the life force within it to prolong their own lives. It's close to the way Flight members use the energy within human hearts, except Bite witches just need the blood.”
“Baobhan-sith,” I whispered.
“I agree,” Raza said. “They must be descendants of the white women.”
“Great,” someone huffed. “And here we were thinking fairies were the only monst-” he was cut off, by someone's elbow from the sound of it.
“It appears that much more than the human myths of witches were true,” I said into the awkward silence. “Now we have werewolves and vampires. What about Storm; do they have some kind of elemental magic?”
“They control the weather through condensation and temperature manipulation,” Alex moved his hands about like he was swirling things together.
