Warlock

An Argument with the In-Law

The world audibly collapsed with the familiar voice's words. The noise of tearing fabric rippled through the air, attacking from every direction at once, then Loch found himself facing a familiar, fearful expression. Like a well-practiced marching band, the pixie's older advisors stepped back in unison.

"Why are they afraid of you?" Skye's whispered in his ear.

"I'll... explain later." If he was lucky, Skye would forget to remind him. But he was not lucky, otherwise Trinity would have never found the CD. The pixie in question, however, showed none of the fear that decorated her advisors' faces. Loch felt a familiar smirk spread across his face. "You're younger than four hundred, aren't you?"

She nodded, then noticed for the first time that she was now alone in facing him. "What are you?"

"He's the face changer!" The familiar voice came again. Loch turned and saw the vampire, Dixie, standing in the doorway with a lopsided smile. How she of all people could remember him and break the forgetting spell, he did not know. "I remember you! We met in the fourteenth century when we were leaving the same town. You made yourself look like you could be my brother, then you changed your face to be an old man so that rich old guy would give us a ride in his carriage. Then we met in Venice, then in Paris, then Russia when you were working for that tsar and I was trying to kill him." Perhaps it was the length of time that they had known each other that made her of all people remember him. Her memories were positive, somehow, which was also different from every other living creature's memories of him. At the moment, however, her smile was fading. "Don't you remember me?"

"You were Isotta, originally. You changed the name a lot." She had always recognized him, despite his changing faces, so perhaps it made sense that she could recognize him now. Unfortunately, her moment of recognition could not have come at a worse time.

Loch decided to bring the conversation back on track. At least he no longer had to act like a submissive human or a lesser warlock. "Where were we? Ah yes, back to the subject of me not joining your little crusade. Trinity, if you want to know why you shouldn't work with me, ask the dryads and naiads behind you. I'm sure they would be happy to explain. Dixie, we need to talk about the Hancocks. At a different café, for the sake of privacy. And -" He turned and saw Skye's torn expression. "Oh. Your uncle's here, isn't he?"

"Yup." He looked none too pleased about it.

"Bring him with. Tell him I don't bite." Loch glanced at Trinity's trio of naiad advisors, and unfortunately, none looked friendly. The snakes in his stomach woke up again, and the fact that they were in sympathy for someone else did not make them any less miserable. If Skye's life crashed and burned, his life would crash and burn with it. The phrase 'love is a disease' made much more sense to him now; if he were still sane he would have left the naiad by now.

The naiad Skye selected from the crowd looked similar to him; the same narrow eyes, the same black hair. However, rather than showing the fear Loch had seen in the other advisors, the naiad's eyes glimmered with curiosity.

As soon as the café door had fallen shut behind them, the uncle opened his mouth. "You're the Loch Ness monster. You were one of the younger warlocks when I first met you. Still powerful, but you made up for your youth with cleverness. Will your wit be on our side this time?"

Gears began to turn in a long-forgotten corner of his mind. Loch squinted at the naiad and ran the name Darius through his memories. Unfortunately, his memory was a couple thousand miles from perfect. If they had met, it could not have been an important meeting. "I'm on Skye's side. I have a plan, and I'll explain it as soon as we order breakfast." After checking the area for eavesdropping Others, Loch stepped into the café they had come upon.