Meredith had always known about magic. Her family was magic, one of the most powerful mage lines out there. Having lost her parents to all the fighting though, she stayed far away from it, focusing on school and lading a primarily normal life.
Unti...
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Able to walk about on her own, she managed to get all the way here from the neutral area Rush had brought them too. That had been a feat unto itself. Moving lately was the biggest foe she'd ever faced. At least the tingling painful sensations had faded after a few days, but she was now tired almost every second of being awake. So was Rush though, so they were a good pair.
Rush was a slug in vampire terms. Certainly he could still move faster than human comprehension, but against other vampires he wouldn't be much of a fight. Having drained himself to protect them from that mage's life spell and then lost pieces of himself to Vincent's assault, he was barely back in one piece.
She was too weak to provide him with blood, but Rush explained that he used blood servants that his father employed when she had voiced her concerns. The thought of that morbid. It reminded her of those poor girls that had been forced to work at the vampire bar. A big house like the Shades though would have people like that on hand in case anyone was injured. For some reason, she had never imagined it, blissfully unaware of much about the vampire world.
To the effect of his weakness, Rush had drilled it into her skull this morning that they had to avoid conflict at all costs. Rush wasn't exactly diplomatically savvy, but he was stoic enough to not cause much incident. Mer, on the other hand, was inept when dealing with anyone, especially Darius, though thank god he wasn't coming. That stuck up piece of self-entitled vampire family head thought meeting inside of the mage complex was far too dangerous to even be considered. So, it was just her and Rush, going in through the front door, rickety as all hell.
Upon entering, Mer hadn't expected to see her father so close to her aunt. From the last encounter, Mer had gathered that her aunt loathed the sight of him, and yet, as Mer stepped in the door, Damien released Lia from what had been an embrace.
"Remus Shade," her aunt spat Rush's name in her normal manner. At least that hadn't changed.
"You called?" Rush was never one to disappoint, and having not noticed his entrance, Lia stumbled back from Damien and Rush.
Expecting some sort of exchange of heated words, Mer was surprised when Rush's eyes locked on Damien instead. Rush growled and took a step back from all of them, herself included. Damien hadn't even said anything yet, so she was lost by the open aggressive behavior. Rush was usually much quieter about his dislike of people, and she had certainly never seen him back away like he was now.
"Darc Aurion," Rush uttered under his breath, and Mer jumped at her father's mage name.
If Rush recognized him, did that mean the Haze spell was no longer active? That would at least explain why he'd been hugging her aunt.
There was an angry dip in her father's eyebrows, crunching them down to the bridge of his nose as he turned to face Rush. A growl rippled out of Damien's throat in reply to Rush's own defensive stance, startling Mer with how instantly they'd flipped the hostile switch. Even with what Rush had said, they had somehow managed to find a dangerous confrontation.
