With great care, I take a step forward out of the shadow. We are in a wilderness training area just outside of Falsun, the capital of Grado. Our goal is to train to move swiftly and silently through the woods.

  I’d like to point out at this time that almost all of the Summoned are city slickers. Most of us haven’t spent even so much as a day in the Boy/Girl Scouts. Some few of us have been to a summer camp.

  Which is to say that we don’t have a clue. Promptly illustrated as I take my second careful step and get bonked in the head by a soft-headed arrow. Somebody heard me, I guess. I give a heartfelt sigh and step back into the shadow to jump back to the starting point.

  There I meet most of my peers. All of us are sporting those special little chalk marks that the arrows leave. Yay.

  This sucks. I suck. Everyone and everything sucks!

  Okay. Got it out of my system. Time to start again. I swear I’m going to make it farther this time!

  I chew on the tip of my feather pen as I think about what to write next. I want to please Lady Addie. She’s very important to Tara and I. We need to impress her so she’ll consider taking us with them when they go.

  Anyway. I’m writing a report. Tara and I participate in the gossip when we do laundry and get the meals. We listen, mostly. Gossip isn’t particularly accurate, but it tends to hold grains of truth. An astute individual can sift out those grains and gain information. Astute. I like that word. I just learned it yesterday. How can newcomers to this world speak my language better than I can?

  I learned it from Lady Saki, though, so it probably doesn’t count. That woman lives and breathes language.

  So every day now, I painstakingly put together these reports. Lady Addie has given me a particular format to present them in. She’s a stickler for that. Now that I have the format down, I’m getting better at presenting the information she wants to know.

  I’m proud of that. I’m an important source of information. Rio told me so. Rio is an important source of kisses. I don’t need to tell him that.

  For my first trick, I place my left hand over a book then place my right hand over a pile of paper, leather, glue, ink and felt. With a thought I trigger my Skill. A bright light shines under my right hand and the pile of materials transforms into a book. A complete and accurate copy of the book under my left hand. Plus some left over materials.

  The hard part was determining the correct mix of raw materials. It took a lot of tries before I figured that out. I was starting to doubt myself.

  You are amazing, signs Saki.

  “I agree,” says Addie.

  “Me too!” says Nix.

  “You don’t even know what you’re agreeing to!” shouts Kari.

  “Shut up! I can agree with anything I wanna.”

  Rio gives a sigh. “That is amazing. Can you do it with just a random pile of papers?” He signs as he speaks, which I appreciate.

  Yes. That’s easier because I only need paper and ink.

  Great! Now do the other thing for me.

  Saki hands me a book. It’s what she calls her spellbook. She’s never shown it to me, but I’m pretty sure it’s where she’s written all she knows about runes and enchantments.

  Taking the book, I hold it in one hand and place my other hand on her head. Her hair is so soft! With a mental command I activate my Soul Bind skill. Light shines from both my hands this time and the book slowly grows transparent before disappearing with one final flash.

  Saki looks stricken for a moment before a look of comprehension crosses her face. Holding out her hand there’s a flash of light and the book appears. She tests it twice more before giving a wicked grin and declaring once again, You’re amazing!

  Why, yes. Yes I am!

  Excerpt from Saki's Journal

  These are exciting times. A whole new world of knowledge is opening up to me.

  We’ve only been here a half-dozen weeks. It seems to me that I'm actually moving too fast, learning too much too soon. But I can't stop my headlong rush. It's too exhilarating, too exciting, too mind-blowingly addictive. I have to do magic! I have to learn as much as I can.

  In my room, alone, I take out a small knife and cut my arm. I hold a cloth to it and apply pressure until it stops bleeding. Resting my arm on the table with the cut facing upward, I pick up a small square piece of heavy parchment and set it on top of the injured area.

  The parchment holds a rune. It's the simplest healing rune that I’ve been able to find in my studies. I spent the afternoon practicing drawing this rune until I got it perfect. Then I drew it on this special parchment with special ink. Healing is Spirit magic so I got Nix to infuse it with Spirit energy. Best to have him do it if I can, at least when it’s still in development.

  Now the test. Focusing on the rune, I use the tiniest bit of Mana energy to activate it. A green glow spreads across the surface of the parchment and then down onto my arm below. The parchment burns up in a flash of cold green fire. Right before my eyes, the edges of the cut knit together and heal. By the time the light dissipates into nothing, there is only unblemished skin.

  I throw the scattered remnants of the parchment away. Victory pose! I can't help myself. I'm too excited to maintain my dignity. Thankfully no one is there to see.

  I'm too excited to sleep. I go out into the dark garden and pace around, lost in thought.

  I'm taking a shortcut across the Palace grounds when I see a ghost. A pale figure with black hair and flashing dark eyes, dressed all in white. Pacing back and forth in a dark garden.

  I pause, struck by this ethereal figure. As she turns, I get a good look at her face. Her face holds no expression and is beyond beautiful. Like a marble statue. I don't know how else to describe it.

  I don't know how long I stand in the entrance to the garden. Finally, she moves straight toward me. I start to speak, but when her eyes meet mine, I'm struck dumb. She passes me by and disappears before I can turn around to follow her.

  I had a dream last night. It was that beautiful woman again. Only this time she was dressed completely in leather and carried a whip. Oddly exciting, yet deeply disturbing.

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  She gave me that scary look. Then, before I could move or even react she appeared right beside me and kissed my cheek. Her lips were soft and warm.

  She kissed me on the opposite cheek from where the hot elf kissed me. Now I can’t decide which kiss to fantasize … errr… think about.

  I can’t decide whether that’s good or bad.

  I close the closet door, straighten my collar and return to the Haunting. It’s funny how on one hand we have concealed ourselves from any official notice, yet the girls still seem to know where I am. At least, they know where to hide in order to ambush me.

  No matter. It just seems like one of those weird left hand, right hand things. Nix is sitting in the common area when I get there. He has apparently been waiting for me.

  “There’s something here you have to read,” he says, handing me a book.

  I look at the title: Interesting and Unusual Healing Abilities. “A healing book? Not normally within my scope,” I say.

  “Look at Chapter 12.”

  I flip through the pages. Find the Chapter: Intimacy and the Transfer of Spirit Energy. “You’re kidding me.”

  “I kid you not. If what I read is right, those kisses aren’t only relieving your pain, they’re healing your … partners as well,” he says with a smirk.

  “Well, I guess that’s a good thing. That it’s not one-sided, I mean.”

  “Yeah. On one hand, yes.”

  “And on the other hand?”

  “If you heal someone when they don’t need it, it has a positive affect. It gives them a jolt of pleasure. Beyond the pleasure of being kissed. Assuming for the sake of argument that your kisses are, indeed, pleasurable.”

  “Listen to you, you smug bastard. Getting competitive now? One hot elf will not win you the match, let alone the game my friend.”

  “Not really where I was going with this. Although I submit to you that the points for a hot elf are an order of magnitude beyond Wendolyn from Accounting.”

  “Quantity has a quality of its own, chump.”

  “And who said there was only one hot elf?”

  “The bullshit is really piling up in here…”

  “Aaaanywaay. What I’m trying to get to is that the healing effects might be making your kisses addictive. The signs are already there.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “If you’re making a teen comedy, no. If you’re trying to keep a low profile, yes. Crowds of women chasing a man through the hallways is hard to overlook.”

  “Jealousy?”

  “Yes. But not ONLY jealousy. Read the chapter. Hopefully it will help you get it under control. The firm hand of discipline and all that.”

  “Bwahaha. The firm hand of discipline. I like that.”

  “Came to me in a dream.”

  “Did that dream include a woman with a whip?”

  “How’d you know?”

  “Just a guess.”

  What is Blood Magic? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. The trouble is, I don’t really know what blood is. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I knew what blood was on Earth. Having a blood based disability led me to do a LOT of research on blood back home.

  Here it’s different, though. Same in the physio-mechanical ways. Not arguing that. But also much more. Blood contains Spirit energy. The energy of life. Blood circulates that life energy throughout the body. Makes a kind of Spirit energy that is linked to a specific creature; a link between a beating heart and the rest of the body. Every drop of blood contains a piece of that link.

  Mix one person’s blood with another person’s blood and that link becomes shared. For most people that link is tenuous and feeble; quickly diluted and broken.

  However, for a Blood Mage like me, that link can be captured, maintained and strengthened. It becomes a connection between myself and the blood donor. A connection that I can use for my own purposes.

  Vampires are natural Blood Mages. We’re born with the ability. Which is why most Vampires die young. Not because people know about or understand our power, though if they did understand I can understand why they’d want to kill us. No. It’s because when we’re born we’re too weak.

  Adults have a strong connection to the Spirit energy in their blood. They’ve had years to forge the connection. Young Vampires haven’t built up enough power in their own blood to compete with that connection. It’s overwhelming. Young Vampires must be isolated from the blood of others or they’ll die. That’s not easy to do. Just the process of birth alone, the contact with their own mothers blood, once disconnected from her body, can kill them.

  A young Vampire must survive into their teens; until approximately puberty, when their connection to their own blood is firm and strong. That’s when they begin to develop their powers and become the powerful mages that strike fear into the hearts of the few who know about them.

  So what is Blood Magic? It’s a connection. It’s a bonding. An unskilled Blood Mage can use that connection to siphon the very life from a creature. All it takes is physical access to their blood. Drinking a person’s blood gives me access to the Spirit energy in that blood. If it’s still in their body, I can use that connection to draw out every last drop of their life energy.

  A skilled Blood Mage can do so much more. They can form lasting bonds with other creatures. They can force someone into blood slavery. They can form many other kinds of permanent bonds and connections.

  One such bond is the Family Bonding we did a couple of weeks ago. In that ceremony we all shared our blood with each other, then I used my Blood Magic to forge permanent connections between all of us. This was an equal bonding enabled by my powers. I believe that even if I die those bonds will still remain.

  Not quite ready to test that, though. But I wouldn’t mind having a slave or two around to give me mani-pedis and massages and stuff.

  Excerpt From Saki’s Journal

  I can now manipulate Spirit energy and Primal energy. It’s not easy. Not like manipulating Mana energy has been for me. It works best if I use a Seal. By which I mean, if I create a physical manifestation of a spell on some surface I find it easier to channel energy into it.

  That’s a phenomenal ability even given that minor limitation. What’s been on my mind is something related. The ability to manipulate Spirit and Primal energy came to me with the Family Bond. My question is: What did I contribute? What Skills and/or abilities did I contribute to them?

  I don’t know. And that’s bothering me because it’s probably pretty important. Whatever I bring to the table is going to be critical in some situation which none of us has foreseen, but none of us can predict what that is. Not even Rio.

  I don’t want it to be a surprise when it happens. Too many ways for that to go wrong. But I don’t have any clues to find an answer. I don’t really even know what the question is.

  Annoying. Don’t like it.

  I stab. I stab and stab and stab. Slash and slash. Stabby stabby stabby stabby stab. Slashy slashy slash.

  Burn! Melt! Plasmatize!

  Okay, I can’t really do those last three. Don’t need to by now. My poor target has already been reduced to splinters and random bits of straw. I’m sorry little dude. It’s not you, it was who I was imagining you to be.

  No, we won’t say the word Princess. It has nothing to do with her. Nothing at all.

  Nothing to do with some … chick … sticking her nose into other people’s business and messing things up just because she can. Nothing at all to do with that.

  I just don’t understand why. Is she jealous? Bored? Just plain mean?

  What’s her agenda?

  I’ve been promoted. Not sure what that really means.

  I’m barely seventeen! They’re calling me Colonel now! There are five Lieutenant Colonels who are my direct subordinates and they’re all over thirty years old. One of them is forty!

  The pressure was crushing me before. Will it get better? I don’t think so. More responsibilities - more worries. I wish I had someone to talk to. Someone who's outside of all this. Someone who could just sit and listen and tell me that it’ll all be okay.

  I miss my family. I miss my dog. I miss my simple life.

  I refuse to cry myself to sleep. But that doesn’t mean I don’t wake up with tears in my eyes.

  “Another Trial is coming,” Rio tells Addie. He signs it also, so I can understand. I can read his lips but I like the courtesy he gives me.

  “How soon?”

  “Very soon. Probably within the week.”

  “Have you Seen anything else?”

  Rio shakes his head. “Just the feeling that it will be different from before.”

  “We’re a Family now. We have new powers,” contributes Nix.

  A Family Trial, I sign. Based on Family Powers.

  “Okay. Penny, you discuss it with Saki. I’ll talk to Kari. We need to research our new Powers as much as we can before the Trial comes.”