Stranger Yet

“Shit, Bella, we have been so worried about you. Are you okay?” Ellie asked upon answering her phone.

“Yes, Ellie, I’m feeling great. And I have important information,” I sighed, scared of the backlash.

“Why? What have you been up to?” she asked sternly.

“Marcus won’t make another move until winter. If you could tell Louisa, that would be great,” I mumbled, noticing the shift in her voice.

She was clearly annoyed.

“You should come tell her yourself. We thought you might have gotten abducted, to be sacrificed or something. She is furious, by the way, as am I,” Ellie answered, and I could tell that she meant it.

“I can’t come to the headquarters for a few days. I’ll get disciplined,” I muttered.

“Oh, you’re getting disciplined either way, but Bella… What did you do to come across this information? You are still a newbie. You shouldn’t be playing with fire,” Ellie scolded.

“I called you, ’cause I thought you would be the most chill,” I told her grumpily.

“Oh well, you can tell me later,” she sighed.

“I’ll come over tonight,” Ellie said before hanging up on me.

Ellie was mad at me, so they must all be pretty angry. I told Erik, feeling worried as I sat down at the table in the kitchen. He had made us spaghetti carbonara.

“They shouldn’t be. Were it not for you, they wouldn’t know they are wasting their time and energy trying to find Marcus at this time,” Erik said.

“You know, something I’m curious about. If you hate your brother, why haven’t you tried to stop him yourself?” I asked.

“I can’t. We are of the same blood. If I harm him, I’ll be cursed,” Erik replied.

“I might tell you more someday, but not today.”

“All right, I guess I can believe that. But why hasn’t Damion stopped him? When he’s clearly bad for the entire spellcaster community?” I asked instead.

“Damion likes giving the umbra a hard time. They killed his mother about a thousand years ago,” Erik answered.

“He’s also not supposed to judge magic as good or bad. He’s bound to protect magic and spellcasters, not the lives of others,” he explained further.

“I guess it would make complete sense for him to hate us. Why let a few of us into his home, though? He has been so kind to me,” I said, confused.

“I am very curious about that too. Aurora seems to like you a lot, I’m sure she came to say hi yesterday just to check on you,” Erik told me, looking a little amused.

“It might have something to do with your magical gift? Although umbra can tap into the arcane, I’ve never met one that’s bound to it like you are,” he said casually.

I looked at him, surprised.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“When you used magic yesterday. I felt your connection to the arcane. You didn’t just tap into it, like I said, you’re bound to it. I bet you could learn to speak to it and use magic with the same ease as I do,” he continued, looking at me with great interest, as if he’d thought I already knew this and realized that I didn’t.

“But that can’t be possible?” I mumbled, finding it hard to believe.

I knew the arcane was a gateway to corrupt us—how could I possibly be bound to it? And what would that make me?

“I didn’t think so either, since the umbra are bound to the dark, but here you are. If you wish, I could teach you the language. You’ll be able to understand it then. It’s a rare gift to be able to fully learn it,” Erik offered, eyeing me curiously.

I already did understand it, although he didn’t know it. I hadn’t known it for long.

It didn’t sit completely right with me. It was very confusing and made me nervous.

“You didn’t already know, did you?” I asked, trying not to sound suspicious.

“No, not until yesterday. You umbra have a way of cutting off your connections to the other dimensions, although I don’t know much about that,” Erik confessed.

I wasn’t completely convinced he was telling me the whole truth.

“Can you teleport me home, after we’ve eaten?” I asked. I needed to process what he’d just told me.

“Ellie is coming over.”

Erik chuckled. “No, I can’t. The cigarettes I’ve been leaving are how I teleported into your apartment yesterday. You brought them with you. I could take you to the building though?” Erik suggested.

“But my clothes, I don’t want to bump into a neighbor or someone I know in the dress and heels I wore yesterday. And I can’t wear your pants and shoes. They are way too big!” I pointed out.

“If you dare to trust me with your keys, I can go and leave something new at your place,” Erik suggested.

“Fuck! I don’t have my keys, or cards, or anything. I really don’t want to have to contact my parents,” I said, shocked.

I hadn’t realized Erik couldn’t teleport us back when we left yesterday.

“Calm down, Bella. I don’t need keys. I was just trying to be polite,” Erik said.

“What’s the point of not being able to teleport into others’ homes if you can still get in through a locked door?” I asked.

“Well, anybody can really, apart from vampires,” Erik said with a shrug before he disappeared.

***

“You could pack some clothes if you want me to bring them back to my place,” Erik said, once he had returned me home to my apartment.

“Yeah, sure, it might be a good idea,” I answered, smiling at the thought before doing what he had suggested.

“I don’t like this, you going back to your headquarters. I wonder if they know about your connection. If they don’t, well… I’m worried,” he sighed, folding his arms while I was packing.

“I have never heard of it before. There are procedures for those who are allowed to use magic. I’m sure they’ll just have me do whatever it is they do and it’ll be fine,” I shrugged.

“I’m not convinced. I’ve known your kind to be cruel, even to their own,” Erik said.

I thought about what Alex had told me about his daughter. Still, she was alive, even though her existence was illegal.

“I think our present Dux Umbra might be kinder than the ones before,” I said thoughtfully while closing the zipper of my weekend bag.

“There, all packed,” I said.

Erik wrapped his arms around me, hugging me against his chest.

“I hope you’re right. Let’s go make dinner,” he said and kissed my cheek before he let go and headed toward the kitchen.

“So loving,” I whispered and smiled to myself. It wasn’t much like me to feel giddy like this.

“Don’t you find it tiresome to always cook for me?” I asked when I joined him in the kitchen.

He was already at work.

“Not in the slightest. I find it adorable that you can’t cook but still try to learn,” he teased me, making me blush.

“I’ll help,” I mumbled and washed my hands.

It was still kind of fun, learning how to cook with Erik. I was learning, but I still doubted I could pull off any of the things we made by myself.

Luckily, with Erik around, I didn’t need to. He loved cooking for me.

We were in the middle of eating our dinner when the bell rang.

“I guess that’s my cue to leave,” Erik said and grabbed my bag.

He smiled. “Text me when I can come back, or if you need help. As I said, I’m worried.” He kissed me before he vanished.

I was nervous and took a deep breath before I went to open the door.

In truth, I didn’t know what kind of energy Ellie would detect from me, and I was scared to find out.