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My jaw dropped. “What? How?”
Rubbing her hand over the frozen picture of my dad throwing balls of air at seagulls, Keres made the image disappear, plunging us back into nothing but moonlight.
“Power is something that is lusted after by everyone. It does not differentiate between humans, vampires, witches, or anything else that exists. When you were born, it became evident almost immediately you were, well, what you are. Your parents, instead of revelling in the joys of being new parents, found themselves backed into a corner, not knowing who to trust and viewing every single person as a potential threat. By the time you started school, things had progressed to a stage where they had to do something to protect you and themselves.”
I frowned. “What did they do?”
“With the aid of a couple of Elders, they put a binding spell on you. It was designed to hide your magic. In the name of plausible deniability, they both asked to have their memories locked
too.”
“Locked?”
She nodded. “Memories can’t be erased. They’re an imprint on the brain. But what we can do is lock them away so deep, you never remember. We removed all elements of magic and witchcraft from their memories so they still had the years they’d spent together just minus a few truths.”
“Mum’s magic gems in her story of her and Dad turned into rocks...he threw rocks at the birds. Is that why?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And when they split, why did they split?”
Keres looked at the ground and sighed. “Your father came to us on his own and asked for you and your mum to move away, somewhere far away where no one would likely find you. His main concern was keeping you and your mum safe. He asked to stay here in the hope that any interested parties would expect to find you close by.”
“And now I’m back. With a vampire...man friend, or whatever the hell he is, and a witch for a friend and co-worker.” I nodded. “Sounds like I’m back right in the thick of it to me.”
“You’ve nothing to fear, Caitlyn. We’re all here for you and we’re behind you one hundred percent.”
“I...this has been one hell of a day for me. I think I need to get some sleep.”
“Of course. There is one other thing though.”
“Dare I ask?”
She laughed. “Your father, before he dies, we need to release his memories or he will become a restless spirit.”
“How do we do that?”
Keres held out her hand, a small vial in the palm of her hand. A rosy pink liquid filled it with tiny sparkles, like glitter, shining throughout it. “Just add this to his cup of tea. It’ll bring everything back to him.”
I couldn’t help but look at it with suspicion.
“Take the lid off and smell it. It’s quite alright.”
I reached out and took it from her. Prising off the small cap, I found myself pleasantly overwhelmed with the scent of fresh air and roses. “That smells gorgeous.”
Keres nodded. “It won’t hurt him in the slightest. Hopefully it’ll give you two some common ground to talk about before he passes.”
I replaced the cap and sighed. “Thank you.”
“I do need to explain your part as a doppelganger before you go though.”
I’d completely forgotten about that. I wasn’t sure I could even take on any more information today. “Ok, I’m listening. Can’t promise I’ll remember it though.”
She chuckled and patted my hand again. “You’ll be just fine. We all feel nervous at the beginning. It’s a whole new world.”
“What’s with the doppelganger thing then?”
“Doppelgangers are created when someone of either great importance or great power deviates from the path they were supposed to take.”
I frowned. “That makes no sense.”
“Do you believe in fate, destiny?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it. But if you’re going down that road then you could argue it was destiny they deviated from their path in the first place and therefore created the doppelganger.”
“Yes,” Keres said, nodding. “That is very true. However, it doesn’t really work like that. Think of it as like sending a child down a path. At the end of the path is an ice cream stand with all the flavours of ice cream they could ever want. But along the path there are other distractions such as candyfloss or chocolate. Even though you’ve given them the helping hand to point them in the right direction, it doesn’t mean they’re going to go straight there.”
“But then is it destiny that those distractions are there in the first place?”
“It could be argued that way, yes. It’s all about perceptions really. Destiny isn’t a straight line that leads you straight to what you want. It’s a mere suggestion towards what you want. If you don’t follow it then things will naturally adjust otherwise.”
“And that’s when doppelgangers are born?”
“Not immediately, but at some point down the line, yes.”
I looked Keres square in the eye and asked, “You know exactly who I’m a doppelganger of, don’t you?”
She didn’t falter in the slightest. “Yes, I do. I knew Mirabelle very well.”
It took a few seconds for things to click into place. I gasped. “Mirabelle was the elemental witch? When you said you’d not seen a witch like me for two hundred years...you were talking about her?”
“Yes, I was.”
“But she’s been missing for two hundred years! How am I...how is this even possible?”
“The fact you’re alive means she’s alive, Caitlyn. All the factors that have come into play, the hands that destiny has dealt to bring you to life is just...extraordinary. You have a purpose and a reason for being. Mirabelle was the start of that.”
“Marcus is desperate to find her. Where is she?”
Keres sighed and looked down at her hands, wringing them together. “No one knows. It’s as if she just vanished into thin air. Locating spells, blood work, searching every square inch of this realm and earth, we could not find her.”
“I’ve had dreams about her. The last one I had, Marcus’ psycho ex stabbed her with gold and threw her off a cliff.” I gasped. “Wait, if she’s a witch then how did she give birth to a vampire, to Marcus?”
“Unfortunately for Mirabelle, she became somewhat of a hot debate in the supernatural world. Some said she should have been killed at birth, others said she was a marvel of life. Her mother was a witch, her father a vampire. Vampire DNA dominates witch DNA and therefore Mirabelle became the first-born vampire with the abilities of a witch. And not just any witch either—one who could control all four elements.”
“There must be others like her though?”
Keres shook her head. “People were terrified of Mirabelle and the power she had. Even in our world. Her parents never stayed in one place too long in fear of their lives. After several years of being moved around, Mirabelle had enough and stood up to her tormentors. Her mild temper tantrum caused one of the deadliest earthquakes in history. At that point, it became law that species shall not cross breed. The resulting offspring were too unpredictable and presented too much risk of exposure to the humans.”
“Mild temper tantrum?”
“Yes. She didn’t even try to do anything. They were in Syria, Aleppo, to be exact, in the eleventh century. Her actions killed nearly a quarter of a million people.”
My hands flew to my mouth in shock. After a couple of seconds, I lowered them and said, “And you’re saying I have this power?”
“No. You have more. You’re a doppelganger.”
I started trembling from head to foot. How was I supposed to deal with such a responsibility? I never asked for this, never even wanted it, yet somehow I now felt responsible for every person’s life within a hundred mile radius.
“You say you’ve had dreams about her?” Keres asked.
I nodded. “Only a couple.”
“That’s good. It means you’re connecting.” She clasped her hands together and held them in front of her chest. Her eyes sparkled with joy. “My goodness, if you’re connecting whilst your magic is bound, imagine what can happen when we unbind you.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on a minute. Nobody is unbinding anything just yet.”
“Don’t you want to see what you can do? Don’t you want to be who you’re meant to be?”
I held back the smirk that wanted to form and replied, “Maybe destiny wants me to stay this way.”
“Destiny brought you to us. I would suggest otherwise.”
I let out a long breath and stood up. “I need some time to process this.”
“Of course,” she said, standing up. “Completely understandable. Although forgive me for asking, but would you not want to help Marcus?”
Her question pricked a bubble of irritation inside me. I couldn’t help the words that left my mouth next. “Don’t try emotional blackmail with me because it won’t work. Marcus hasn’t had his mum for two hundred years. I’ve known about all of this for less than twelve hours. I think he can wait another day or two and potentially keep thousands of people alive by doing so.”
Keres looked at me and raised an eyebrow. A sly smirk tugged at her lips. “Perhaps Rosemary’s little discovery all those years ago is in fact true.”
“Excuse me?”
“The connection between witch and vampire being lust based.” She gestured for us to walk towards Khyber Pass. “If you felt any sort of love for him, you wouldn’t be putting yourself and others before him.”
“Are you saying I should be helping him?”
“Oh no, dear. I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t be doing anything. I’m merely pointing out that maybe you’re not in love with him like you may think you are. Love knows no bounds.”
Did she have a point? Joanna had put the doubt in my head earlier on, but Keres had, in a roundabout way, made me all but admit it myself. If I was so besotted with Marcus, wouldn’t my first thought have been to find his mum?