Malia's Might

Chapter 5: The first glance from the shadows.

                Mason was working on a stack of paperwork that was beyond inhuman.  He felt like for every page he put into the little tray for completed work another two sprouted on his to do pile.  He was feeling the beginnings of a migraine starting and all he wanted to do was get to bed at a decent hour.  He looked at the clock and felt himself cringe.  At this rate he would be lucky if he got a solid six hours in before he had to be up and going in the morning.  He still didn’t understand why they made him attend the stupid classes at the academy anyway.  It wasn’t like they could teach him anything he needed to know for what he would be doing upon graduation.  It seemed pointless but his parents would remind him again that it was for him to get his social skills in order and to know the peers he would be ruling over once he had full power.  It wouldn’t do for him to have no knowledge of the people he would be in charge of now would it.  He rolled his eyes as the sound of his parent’s latest lecture rolled through his mind.       

                Suddenly he felt more than just the tension in his neck and shoulders from being hunched over his desk all afternoon.  He felt the distinct zap of the boundary lines flow through his veins.  He knew there was someone new as soon as they entered his territory.  How could there be a new being here and he not been told.  The chair he had been sitting in while going over treaties and conclave paperwork hit the wall as he stood.  This was not how things were done, when another entered into a new territory it was only after seeking entry and announcing ones arrival before they actually stepped foot over the boundary lines.  This would not do and there would be a reckoning for this slight.

                Feeling the adrenaline course through his system Mason rolled his neck and shoulders and smiled as he heard the audible pop of his bones as his wings made their appearance.  Nothing like a border breach to get him out of paperwork, and he always loved any chance he got to fly.  He walked around his desk and grabbed his leather cloak off of the chair on the other side.  He may be practically unstoppable but that didn’t mean he was going to fly in this weather without some protection from the elements.  He hated being soaked just as much as the next person, no matter that he wasn’t human.  Smiling as he threw on the jacket Mason pushed the French doors to his balcony open and leapt over the railing.  He knew he wouldn’t crash to the ground but the added adrenaline spike as he watched the ground come rushing up to meet him wasn’t bad either.

                His wings stretched and with a solid thrust he was airborne.  Mason closed his eyes and savored the feeling.  He never felt freer then when he was riding the air without a care in the world.  Lately as his final months of high school were approaching it seemed like he had less and less time to be able to stretch his wings.  He was always bogged down with paperwork and meetings and learning all the ropes from his parents.  They wanted to make sure he was prepared when they handed over the mantle and it was his turn to lead their people.  He knew it was what he had to do, the right thing, what he was born to do.  He would do it, it was his birthright, but at moments like these he wished he could just fly away and never look back.

                Mason sighed as he opened his eyes and focused on the source of the intrusion.  He could sense that the one who was here was like him but not at the same time.  Sensing the pull he followed in the direction of the intruder.  He had to admit he was curious as he made his way closer to the energy source he had sensed cross the borders.  What would make someone risk everything by coming to his lands without following the proper steps and then not even put up wards to hide themselves?  He hoped it was not someone making a simple mistake, he would not have been the only one to sense them and he really didn’t relish the idea of making an example of some poor fool who had stumbled over the lines in the storm.

                As Mason neared his target he noticed the mansion on the far ends of his land.  It had been vacant for almost five years now.  It had been that way ever since his father had lost one of their charges and their family had died out.  If he remembered right there had been a daughter, she would have been about his dad’s age now; if he could remember the story his mother had told him.  She had been curious about the world outside of their conclave and had disappeared in the night.  His father and grandfather had looked for her everywhere but there was no trace of her in Europe.  They had been unsuccessful at finding any clues as to where she had gone to and eventually the family had dropped the search.

                His father had suspicions that they knew where she had ended up but did not want to tell them.  After all, she may have found happiness wherever she had gone, but she was a female of the species, and since they had so few young born each year they would not have allowed her to simply leave.  Mason thought about what life would be like outside of the rules and restrictions and every day pressure of the conclave.  He hoped that the girl from his mother’s story had found happiness and freedom especially since so many in their care didn’t get the choice to be free, they had traditions and duty that they had to follow.

                Mason was brought out of his thoughts by the sounds of voices and the realization that the mansion up ahead had lights on inside.  He slowed his wings so that they would not make sound and alert those below of his presence.  He could make them out now and was intently studying them.  He hadn’t known that the residence had been leased out; he would have to talk to his father later about it.  Right now his focus was on the people below him in the storm.  He could sense that his target was among them and he was waiting to get a good view of them before he approached.

                They seemed happy if not hurried by the storm and the rain.  They appeared to be a family if his listening in on their conversation was telling him correctly it was a father, mother and step daughter.  He had been thinking that it might be one of the moving crew he was looking for when she stepped out of the back of the moving van directing one of the men carrying an old rocking chair with a quilt on it.  The instant she stepped from under the cover of the container he could feel her power swirling in the wind.

                What got his attention though was the sweet melody of her voice.  She clearly meant every kind word she said to the mad holding the chair.  She also had a deep attachment to the piece of furniture and as Mason held his breath to hear her clearer he realized that the chair belonged to her birth mother and she was obviously not the woman who was standing inside with the other two people he had seen enter the mansion.

                Mason was listening to her speak when the sky let loose with a thunderbolt that darn near singed his right wing.  He had been so entranced by her voice and genuine nature that he had nearly forgotten he was floating in the middle of a storm.  Shaking his head Mason made his way to the shadows on the edge of the lawn to observe some more, or at least that was what he told himself.  He couldn’t deny that he felt drawn to the girl, yet he didn’t know why and that was what had him stalking her from the bushes.

                He watched her head inside and was about to leave when after a few minutes he saw the lights in the attic windows come on.  The room was more like an observatory than an attic; it had windows that provided a three hundred and sixty degree view of the area surrounding the mansion.  Mason figured the view from that room must be amazing, but he could see the girl in the windows and felt that the view into the room was rivaling whatever she was seeing right now in his own opinion.  At that moment the light flashed in the sky again and he was able to catch a glimpse of her smiling, and with that he felt his breath stop.  He never really noticed people as a regular thing, he was always moving from one thing to the next when learning with his father, and never got the chance to really study others.  This girl though had his full attention and it was as if his eyes refused to leave her image.

                Mason felt his body moving involuntarily to find another view point when she left the window and he could no longer see her.  He crept through the shadows to the back of the building where he saw light coming out of another window to the back yard.  Leaping up to the ledge he found himself wedged between a few rows of gargoyle statues near the window sill.  He smiled to himself as the thought occurred to him that he was a monster in a row of idealized monsters.  He almost laughed at the irony of the situation until he felt her presence.  Leaning into the window Mason watched her as she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts.

                She was peering out the windows on the stairway that led back to the attic room she had apparently claimed as her own.  She had a few boxes and items she had brought up earlier as he watched her but she had stopped by the window now and was looking out over the view.  The lightning flashed again giving him a perfect look at her features without her seeing him and he felt his hidden side try to take over his physical form.  She was breathtaking to him, her raven locks and bright green eyes shining in the flashes from the sky.  Her skin was so pale he had to listen to be sure he heard a heartbeat coming from her chest on the other side of the glass.  If he hadn’t heard it he would have thought her alabaster skin a trait of vampirism, but this was not the case.  As he watched her he listened to his instincts and they were on fire.  He wanted to go to her and wrap her in his arms but he didn’t know why.  He didn’t even know her yet he wanted to sooth away the pain he saw in her eyes.

                The sky darkened again after the lightning faded and he watched her eyes track over to him in the window.  He felt himself focus on every detail of her face and then he saw the fear in her eyes.  He was perplexed for a second before he registered the reflection of his own red gaze reflected in the window pane.  He had allowed his instincts so much free reign that his eyes had turned red and had begun to glow.  Crap!  Now what was he supposed to do?  He couldn’t let her know that he was here and he was starting to panic for a second before he felt the zing of an impending lightning bolt.

                Using the blinding flash to his advantage Mason his behind the gargoyle statues on the roof and watched as the girl took in the illuminated scene before her.  He let out a relieved breath as he watched her visibly settle and then shake her head.  Mason watched her head up the stairs to the attic mumbling about letting her imagination get the best of her and seeing things.  Then he heard her mention going to bed before starting a new school.  He didn’t know much about this being before him, but he did know that he wanted to find out all he could.  He would make a mental note to find out what school she was attending so that he could figure out some way to have surveillance put in place.  He would find out what he could before he brought up the newcomers to his father.  He didn’t want to put her in danger if he didn’t have to.  He had only glimpsed her from the shadows but for some reason Mason wanted to protect this raven haired beauty.  He smiled as the image of her played in his mind, he could definitely get used to seeing more of her in his future, even if only for a little while.

                Mason leapt back into the air and headed home.  He needed to get to sleep soon if he was going to be able to function at all for school in the morning.  Thinking of school and sleeping he doubted he would get much sleep at all with thoughts of that girl playing through his mind.  It was as if his brain had decided to play the sound of her voice and the image of her smiling on a constant loop to torture him tonight.  At least it would be blissful torture he thought as his balcony began to come into focus.