Elemental Dawn (Paranormal Public) (3 page)

After I read the document, I was
going to wish I hadn’t.

The
Paranormal government consists of countless division, as mentioned in the
previous letter. There is now a police academy for paranormals. Until recently,
senior paranormals had always policed themselves, a community justice if you
will. This new academy is meant to centralize and formalize the solution to our
security needs, an important requirement in these trying times.

The government
consists of representatives proportional to the numbers of each type of
paranormal. There are no longer any elemental representatives, since all
elementals, including former royalty, are deceased. Should elemental numbers
rise again, the councils will be readjusted to reflect the new numbers.

There is
also a distinct difference between the royal families that rule the various
paranormal types, and the government that rules all paranormals. Sometimes
these representatives are one and the same, but in many instances they are not.
For example, Airlee paranormals and the Strange paranormals, those in the sixth
House of Public, are not represented by royalty, whereas vampires are.
Werewolves do not have royalty and neither do fallen angels. In the case of the
fallen angels, there is a distinction between full fallen angels, those of
purer blood, and fallen angels who have other blood mixes coursing through
their veins. All representatives are welcome in the halls of government.

At this I rolled my eyes. I had
read the bit about elementals eagerly, but it said what it usually said, that
there were not enough elementals to be represented in government. I was
basically just lumped in with Airlee.

I glanced over at Lisabelle on
the floor. Her back was turned to me and she appeared to be sleeping soundly.
She had read all of this already and had thought I should read it too. I was
glad that I had, because I wanted the government to do something about the
demons, and starting a police academy seemed like a step in the right
direction. I just wondered who would apply.

I continued to read.

The last bit was about the
vampires. It was long, but the basic points were these: There were three sects,
and every vampire was a member of one of the sects. Lanca’s Rapier sect was the
largest and most powerful. All Rapiers had a home at Vampire Locke, which was
where Lanca’s coronation would take place. The other two sects, both also
governed by kings, but less powerful ones, were the Raor and the Radvarious.
Dacer had once said that both he and Zervos had grown up together in the Rapier
sect, and now I had a better idea what exactly that meant.

I fell asleep that night
clutching the pieces of paper to my chest and trying not to imagine an older
man, who looked alike like Lanca, being ripped to shreds.

The next morning Ricky got up
early to have breakfast with us, a first. He was fascinated to see Lisabelle
come in and just want coffee. Her perfect porcelain skin was glowing from the
shower, and she looked even more ethereal than usual.

“Where are you going now?” Ricky
asked. He was a little upset that we didn’t have any more time to talk. I still
hadn’t told him about Mom, and I felt a little guilty about it.

“We’re going to our other
friend’s house. You and she would get along famously,” said Lisabelle. “She’s
eye level with you.”

“Are you calling me short?” He
put his fists on his hips, much like Sip always did.

“Yes.”

“I don’t think Sip would
appreciate you calling
her
short,” said Ricky, changing
tactics when he realized that Lisabelle didn’t care if she offended him.

“That’s right, she would not,”
said Lisabelle dreamily, as if the idea of annoying Sip was sunshine to
Lisabelle’s day. “But I am just stating facts. I can’t help it.”

“You could try,” Ricky grumbled.

“You wouldn’t want me to lie,
would you?” Lisabelle asked mischievously.

“No,” said Ricky. “You don’t
strike me as a liar.”

Lisabelle eyed him for a moment,
and I saw something that might be liking flash in her eyes, but it was quickly
replaced by her sarcastic deadpan.

“How long will it take you to get
there?”

“Who can say?”

“Why are you going?”

“Love and friendship is
everything?”

“Why are you really going?”

“Why do you ask so many
questions?”

“I’m trying to annoy you.”

“Good job,” said Lisabelle.

Pushing herself up from the
table, she vanished upstairs. Once she was out of sight she yelled, “Charlotte,
we leave in five. Say bye.”

I sighed and squeezed my eyes
shut. This was the hard part. I knew that when I opened my eyes Ricky’s gray
eyes would be staring back at me out of his pale face, filled with sadness. He
was always hard to leave.

“Don’t be sad,” he said. “This
makes seeing you again all the better.”

I smiled at him. “Very true. I
will visit sometime this spring, so we can spend more time together.”

“Will you bring Lisabelle?” he
asked eagerly. He was too young to even try to hide the fact that he found her
fascinating.

I chuckled. “We’ll see.”

Satisfied with that, he sat back
in his chair, still watching me as if he was trying to memorize my face.

Once we were finished with
breakfast, Ricky disappeared into his room while I finished packing.

By the time I had my stuff
gathered in the hall, all ready to go, I was thoroughly depressed and missing
my brother already.

“Ricky, we’re leaving,” I yelled
up the stairs as Lisabelle stood waiting in the doorway.

“Stop throwing a party in your
room,” the darkness mage called up the stairs, smiling.

The noise of the video game my
little brother was playing shut off. I heard his door bang open and his feet
pound down the stairs. He skipped the last three steps by doing a huge jump and
landing on two feet.

Grinning widely at me, he
sauntered into the kitchen, pushing his blond hair out of his eyes. My throat
tightened at the sight of his happy face. I wished I could see it every day.

He threw his arms around me and
squeezed tight, his head buried in my shoulder. He was getting tall.

“Bye, Sis,” he murmured. “Nice to
see you. Come visit.”

“You know I will,” I whispered
softly, fighting back tears.

When we finally pulled apart he
gave me a sad grin. “Be careful. I want to hear all about your fourth semester.
Hope leaving early was worth it. I need to meet this Sip character.”

“She’s way nicer than me,” said
Lisabelle with amusement. “If that means anything.”

“Like that’s hard,” said Ricky.

Lisabelle gave him her razor
sharp grin and he stifled a laugh.

“For a child you aren’t so bad,”
she told him.

“For a mean person you aren’t so
mean,” Ricky retorted.

Lisabelle nodded curtly and
stepped out the door, smiling a little to herself. My brother had won her over
in less than a day. I would have laughed except that Ricky would have taken
offense.

I gave my brother one last hug.
As I walked out the door I heard him yell, “Next time we see each other I want
to know what’s going on. No joke.”

I didn’t respond. It was a
promise I could not make, a risk I could not take. My brother was the one thing
in my life I had to protect, more than the other paranormals, more than my own
life. Ricky would be kept safe even if it meant that I died. He
had
to be, and that was that.

I followed Lisabelle down the
street, trying not to cry over what I was walking away from.

Lisabelle paused and slung her
arm around my shoulder. Never actually looking at me, she whispered, “You have
to leave what you love so that you can come back. Your leaving is an act of
love. He understands that.”

I snuffled. “He might, but I’m
not sure I do, Lisabelle. I’m not sure I do.”

“Come on,” said Lisabelle,
dragging me away. “Let’s go see that mangy mongrel we’re friends with.”

“You mean Sip?” I dabbed at a wet
spot at the corner of my eye.

“If you want to be nice about
it,” Lisabelle glowered.

Sip met us at the gate at the end
of her front yard. She lived in a community of werewolves in the mountains of
New Hampshire, where they rarely had visitors. In fact, Lisabelle told me, Sip
had to get special permission for the two of us to come, because the werewolves
were getting more and more wary of other paranormals these days.

“Hi,” she said, flinging herself
at me. She wore a black jacket and jeans, her spiky blond hair perfectly messy
as usual. Her bright purples eyes lit up when she saw us.

I returned her hug with just as
much gusto. Seeing Sip and Lisabelle felt like home. Now if only Keller and
Lough had been there, my circle of dear friends would be complete.

“Hi,” I said happily. “Thanks for
having us.”

Sip pulled back slightly and eyed
me.

“Of course,” she said, wrinkling
her nose. “Happy to have you. Lisabelle not so much, but she wouldn’t take no
for an answer.”

“Wouldn’t take no for an answer?”
Lisabelle scoffed. “Look who’s talking.”

“I listen,” said Sip indignantly.

“You have selective hearing like
nobody’s business,” said Lisabelle.

“I’m sorry, what?” Sip asked,
cupping her hand around her ear just to annoy Lisabelle a little more.

“Nice to see you too,” said
Lisabelle, stepping around me and giving Sip a hug. The darkness mage had
started doing such things with her roommate, but no one else. I was sure Lough
was jealous.

“Of course it is,” said Sip. “Come
on. Let’s get to my house before anyone realizes you’re here.”

“What does that mean?” I asked,
looking around. I had just now realized how eerily quiet it was. The last time
I had visited Sip there had been werewolves everywhere, in both human and animal
form. They had mostly ignored me, but a couple of times I had gotten a curious
look, as if they knew who I was.

Now I saw no one.

“Did Lisabelle scare everyone
away again?” I joked. Sip just pursed her lips and looked straight ahead.

“It’s not that,” she said
quietly. “They just don’t want anyone that isn’t werewolf here.”

“That’s insane,” Lisabelle
snorted. “This is an outlying town. Lots of paranormals stop here on their way
to somewhere else.”

“Like Vampire Locke?” I asked.
Lanca’s stronghold was a mountain in New York that humans couldn’t see. Long
ago it had been moved out of lower Manhattan because there had been too many
people around who could potentially see the vampires.

“Vampire Locke is basically a
city of its own,” said Sip. “Have you ever seen a picture?”

“No,” I said. “It’s not exactly
something you can Google.”

“I’ll show you when we get home,
or maybe Mom will. She’s really excited to see you.”

“I’m excited to see her too,” I
said, trying hard not to look around at the empty town that surrounded us. If
this was the future of the paranormals, I wasn’t sure it was a future we could
save.

Sip’s house was large, set back
in the woods down a long dirt road. It had to be big since Sip had five
brothers, although I was pretty sure there were only three bedrooms for the
kids, and Sip had one to herself. I was glad to see the lights from the windows
winking at us as we walked up to the house. My friend’s parents, Hyder and
Helen, were warm and welcoming and I instantly felt at home.

I could see where Sip got her
looks. Both her parents had blond hair that was almost white, and while Hyder
had blue eyes, Helen’s were as purple as Sip’s.

We were ushered into the Quests’
kitchen and Helen poured us all tea. The room was a fascinating study in werewolf
living. Sip had explained that when they didn’t have people there -
non-werewolves - her family stayed in its werewolf form, partly because it was
very comfortable for them physically and partly because it helped them stay
sharp should they ever need to be in werewolf form for an emergency.

The result was that everything in
the house was low to the ground, so that as werewolves the Quests could reach
whatever they needed. At first we all sat cross-legged at the wooden kitchen
table without a chair in sight, but soon after Lisabelle and I arrived we moved
the living room and settled down to drink our tea by the fire. For the gruesome
story I was about to hear I needed all the warmth I could get.

It didn’t take us long to get
past the pleasantries and down to business. I could see immediately that Hyder
was tired and worn, while Helen had dark circles under her eyes.

The Quests explained that we
wouldn’t be at their house for long, since we were leaving the next morning for
the Coronation. Time was tight, and the Quests knew that we wanted to have a
little time to see Lanca when we got there. Once Sip’s parents had explained
the basic details, they left us “young people” alone to catch up.