Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 15:29:13 +0100
From: Tim <shiningstar@oceanfree.net>
Subject: Powers That Be 11

Well, it's been a while coming, I know, but I think that it's been worth
the wait! As I'm sure you noticed yourself it's quite a long chapter (for
me) and I think the quality of writing is better then anything that I've
managed to achieve so far. It's because people were asking for longer
chapters that this one is here, but it comes with a price, you really have
to let me know what you think of this one, because I've put a lot of
effort into it. So come on people! Get those typing fingers ready and
write to me once you've finished reading! The address is -
shiningstar@oceanfree.net. Is it really too much to ask? I don't mind
what you have to say, you can throw insults, comments, criticisms,
suggestions, I'm open to anything like that. (I can just see the look on
Tim's face as he reads that)

	Speaking of Tim, I really really want to thank him. I said in the
last chapter that he was almost a co-author, but he does way more then
that, he questions me, he challenges me, he channels my thoughts, and I
get to try out new ideas on him. So thank you Tim! As to Sher, the great
unread - thank you thank you thank you. Shawn, I'm still waiting for
that picture! Matthew, you make me blush with every e-mail that you
send me. Everyone else who's e-mailed me, thank you very much. I
know now that I can bring a 'lil but of happiness to people, and that's
worth all the time that I spend writing this story.

	A story, that's all this is, a story which is in no way based in
fact. If I can let you in on a little secret here - I made this up! Shh! Not
so loud, they might hear you! While some of the characters are based on
real people, this is not a reflection of what they get up to in real life, so
there you are. If you're too young, then you're not supposed to be
reading this.

	By the way, I get some criticism of my spelling from *certain*
people. I should say that I'm writing in hyberrnian-English here, which
is the Irish form of English and has slightly different spelling.

	Enjoy!

--------------------------------

I concentrated further and the fireballs spun around Justin faster and
faster until there was but a blur of red surrounding him. I couldn't even
see any part of him anymore. I laughed at Justin's predicament.
Suddenly someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around only to
see Justin smiling at me. I blinked and pulled back in surprise. "How did
you.?" I asked.

	His grin became even wider. "I'm an elemental mage,
remember? That means that I've got a special affinity with fire that
others don't have. That and I *can* work a teleportation spell you know.
That's something else you should remember, try not to lose sight of your
opponent." He jumped into the air and was borne up by the wind. As I
watched him fly gracefully upwards he shouted something else down.
"One more thing. Don't let yourself be distracted!" Even as he said it I
felt the earth crumble away from beneath me.

	Panicked, I thrust out my hands in an effort to grab the sides of
the hole before I fell. I scrabbled away, but to know avail because I
slowly slipped further and further into the chasm in the earth. I kept on
falling until I splashed into a pool of ice cold water at the bottom. I
swam back up to the surface and looked up at the sliver of sunlight that I
could see. Justin's head poked over the top and I yelled up at him.
"You've ruined the lawn!"

	He ignored what I'd said. "Having a nice dip?" He shouted
down at me.

	"You know it!" I shouted back. I concentrated and a fountain of
water shot up towards Justin. He didn't manage to get out of the way in
time and was hit full on by the surge of water. Some of the water also hit
the edge of the chasm and eroded away the soil that Justin was standing
on. He staggered backwards but slipped into the hole anyway.

	"Welcome down." I said.

	"Thanks." He gasped, spitting water out of his mouth.

	Then JC's head appeared over the side. "If you two children are
finished playing, we've been called before the council. So get up here!"

	"Come on Tom, let's call this one quits." Justin said. Then he
flew up and out onto the surface.

	Just great, I grumbled, I get left down here while they go off.

	"Are you coming up?" Asked JC.

	"Give me a hand will you?" I asked.

	"Sure." He replied. A couple of seconds later I felt JC pull me
upwards and then I was out on the lawn. Justin spread out a hand and
with a rumbling noise the chasm sealed so that you couldn't tell that it
had ever been there. "You've got half an hour to get cleaned up." Said
JC before he walked off into the house.

	"So Justin." I said, now that he'd finished his shower. We'd
decided to take our showers separately because of the limited time
available to us. "What's this about?"

	"I don't know. JC didn't say, and I doubt that he knows. They
like to have an air of mystery surrounding everything that they do."

	"Fair enough." I grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and
headed in to have a shower. When I finished I dried off quickly and,
throwing on my clothes went back out into our bedroom to meet Justin,
who laughed.

	"You don't seriously think that you're wearing *that* do you?"

	I looked at him and gasped. He was wearing a robe of pure
shimmering red. If red had a soul it would be this colour. It seemed to
take all the light in the room and shine it through the folds of cloth that
surrounded Justin. "You... you... you look amazing." I stammered.

	"And you look like you just came back from a pub." Said
Justin. "Come on, put this on." He gestured towards a robe of white that
lay on the bed.

	Without hesitation I stripped down to my boxers and donned
the robe. It was similar to the one that Justin was wearing, but it didn't
take in the light the way that his did. He nodded his approval and then
hand in hand we walked down towards the entrance hall where we were
to meet the others. We were the first there so stood around and waited
for them. Lance was the first to come in. He to was wearing a robe; his
was green and just as amazing as Justin's. Each of them came in and
their robes matched the colours of their magic, except mine. I asked JC
why that was. He said it was because I wasn't actually a white mage yet,
only a student whereas they were, and as a student I had the white robe
to wear. We joined hands and JC said the words that transported us
across the miles more quickly then you could blink.

	I looked around at where we were. All I could see were slopes,
trees and mountains. "This is where the council sits?" I asked dryly. The
particular mountainside that we were standing on was windswept and
shorn of all living things.

	"Not here." Said JC, tracing a rune in the air with a finger.
Once the rune was complete it shone brilliantly before fading. Silently
and swiftly the side of the mountain pulled apart to reveal a huge
entrance into its depths. "But here."

	As we walked inside my mouth opened wide in awe. The
hallway was larger then anything that I'd ever seen before. Our footsteps
echoed and rung against the bare rock of the walls. From the sides other,
smaller hallways lead off into the darkness and from them I could
occasionally hear people walking, talking, laughing or practising magic.
But we kept going down the main hall until we finally came to its end,
and a colossal pair of wooden doors stood in front of us. Again JC traced
a rune into the air and the doors opened, showing a hall, even larger then
the one that we'd come in from. But this hall was majestically decorated
and adorned.

	From the side I heard a creaky old voice. "Who is it that wishes
to gain entrance to the Elder Hall, where the council of the white
convenes?"

	I looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw a
suitably old man standing to attention behind a podium.

	JC answered him. "It is I, Joshua Chasez, of the yellow order of
the white, with the rest of my group and our student, Tom Williams, the
undecided, who wish to gain entrance to the Elder Hall, to which we
were summoned." His entire statement sounded very polished and
smooth, as if it had been said on many more occasions then could be
counted, as did the response.

	"Very well, entrance to the Elder Hall is granted, and may you
find the council which you seek!"

	All the guys bowed deeply to him, and I followed suit. We then
walked across the hall to a long table on a dais, where the council sat.

	Again, they all bowed to the council and again I copied them.

	Baram, the head of the council spoke first. "Welcome before
the council Tom." Then she addressed us all. "Thank you for coming
before us on such short notice. There are matters which must be
discussed." She paused, for dramatic effect I don't doubt. "Both public."
Then she lowered the tone of her voice and spoke to JC alone. "And
private." She addressed the group again. "First of all, I'm sure that you
have all been made aware that it was Drayn who engineered the situation
on the plane. It is deeply worrying that he should be making his presence
felt so strongly."

	JC interrupted her. "On that note, An image of Drayn came
before us yesterday and stated that there would be a confrontation soon."

	Baram took a couple of moments to consider what JC had said.
"That is disturbing. However, there are certain limitations to what we
can do. Our resources have been stretched thinly over the last couple of
years due the resurgence of the vampire threat." She changed her tone
again. "How has Tom been doing in his studies?"

	"Exceptionally well. He continues to improve at an exponential
rate." Said JC.

	"So you have managed to teach him the basics of magic?"

	"Easily, he has grasped the concepts without any effort at all.
I've never heard of anything like it before."

	"I see." Mused Baram. "So you would think that you've
reached the limit of what you can do at this stage. Then you leave me
with little choice." She looked to each side of her and, receiving nods
from each she stretched out her hand towards me and transformed my
robe into one of black.  "When we have time we will perform the
traditional ceremonies, but the circumstances don't permit.
Congratulations on your inauguration."

	"I... I... I don't know what to say. Thank you. But I thought that
there were other tests, other challenges?" I stammered, incredibly
pleased, yet wary.

	"The recommendation of your group leader will suffice, also,
the way that you dealt with the situation on the aeroplane was indeed
impressive for someone who has so recently come into their powers. But
enough! We still have the matter of Drayn to discuss." She drew herself
up to her full height. "It is clear that he has been gathering his power
since the last banishment, however, it is not clear to even the seers and
scryers among us to what extent his power has increased. Clearly he
believes that he has enough power to defeat you as a group and that
indeed is worrying, also, his apparent attraction to Tom's power is
deeply disturbing. We believe that it is evident that he will attack you
quite soon, and on that front we have reached a decision, we will be
asking the group lead by Kevin Richardson to join you as soon as is
feasible. But that is not enough, we are gathering mages to us here in
order to attack him as soon as possible. We must do something to curb
his power!"

	"Indeed, your honour." Said JC. "The corridors seemed far
fuller then they would normally be."

	Baram sighed and spoke in a voice filled with longing. "Even
as hear those words I am filled with a sadness, for it was not long ago
that these hallways vibrated from the power that filled them. The time of
magic would appear to be drawing to a close, my child, and with it a
way and tradition the like of which will never be seen again on earth."
She seemed to mentally shake herself, because when she spoke again her
voice was back to its normal crisp tone. "Unfortunately, Drayn is not the
only problem that we must concern ourselves with. A lack of attention to
the vampires has made itself evident in that a nest of them has managed
to cross onto the green shores of this isle. We will not tolerate it! We
must teach all of the dark that even in these lean times we will *not* be
trifled with! Send them a message that none of them will be able to
ignore!" She softened her tone again. "But hasten not, for there is time
yet. We wish to speak to Joshua alone. The rest of you are excused."

	All of us except for JC bowed deeply and left through the doors
by which we entered. Lance led the way, in silence, towards a small
room down one of the side passageways that was fully equipped with
sofas and armchairs, but little else.

	"Congratulations Tom! It's rare indeed that someone is given
his or her robe so soon. It's just a pity that this is something that you
can't share with your family." Said Lance; the other's echoing his
comments in various forms of their own.

	But I had plenty of questions of my own that I wanted to ask
them. Baram's speech had made reference to many things that I didn't
understand. "What did she mean, that the age of magic is coming to a
close? When? Does that mean that there will be no more magic?"

	Lance laughed, in the absence of JC he was the most
knowledgeable on the lore and the history of such things. "When Baram
says soon, she means in a thousand years or so, when you've lived as
long as she has, such events could be deemed soon... anyway, remember
a while ago we explained that once everyone was undecided? Well, that
was because the magic was abundant, gradually the number of people
with magical abilities has decreased, but there is hope yet. We have
plenty time more in which to explore the problem."

	Justin laughed. "Lance, you're speaking funny."

	Lance grinned. "Yeah, but she does that to you! It's her
English, when she's being formal you know how old-fashioned her
speech becomes!"

	While we were all laughing JC entered the room. "Ready to
leave?" He asked.

	"Whenever you are." Said Chris. We all jumped to our feet,
eager to get back to the house. We followed JC out of the mountainside
and again he spoke the words of the teleportation spell, this time
bringing us back to the house.

	"So." I said. "When can we expect the Backstreet Boys?"

	"Not for a another week or so, they've got tour commitments.
However, our commitments are being called off for the next while. The
council want us to stay in Ireland until we get rid of Drayn."

	"I figured as much." Said Joey.

	"Why?" I asked.

	"Because in this country our magic is at its strongest. White
magic is seeded into the very earth that you walk on and is in the air that
you breathe. It weakens those who are evil too. That is why Baram was
so enraged about vampires living here." Explained Joey. "What else did
she have to say to you JC?"

	"Oh, this and that." Said JC, dodging the question. "But a lot of
it was about Tom's training, things that should be explained and taught
to him. Things that she wants him to know before we go take on the
vampires."

	"We've handled vamps before." Said Justin, smacking his fist
into his palm. "No problem."

	"Not like this." JC looked around to make sure that everyone
was listening before he continued. "These ones were white mages before
they were turned." There was a collective gasp. "Not that powerful..."

	Chris continued his sentence. "But combined with the reflexes
and speed of a vamp..."

	"It'll be tough." Concluded JC. "Anyway, there are a couple of
things that you have to know before we consider taking on these
vampires. Number one, she wants you to fly. That shouldn't be hard to
teach you, now that you've got telekinesis down. Number two, you have
to know about the teleportation spells, again, nothing difficult there.
Number three, you've got to know some healing spells, they are
awkward, but once you get the hang of them you're home free. And the
last thing we can do now. I've got something's to explain to you about
emotions and magic. Any of the rest of you want to stay for this?" He
asked.

	"I'll stay." Volunteered Justin.

	"Of course you will." Smirked Joey. "But I don't think that any
of the rest of us will find *it* so interesting. Anybody up for a game of
hide and seek? I could use the practise."

	"I'm in." Said Lance.

	"Me too." Said Chris.

	"Hide and Seek?" I whispered to Justin.

	"Joey's a shapeshifter remember? It's the best way for him to
keep his skills at their peak."

	"Oh right." I said. The three who were going went, leaving JC,
Justin and I. JC eyed Justin suspiciously.

	"I don't want you distracting him J! He's got to listen to this
well. It'll only take a minute, but then I want to move onto the flying."

	"I could teach him flying." Said Justin.

	"But we want to keep him alive, remember?" Joked JC. Justin
just stuck his tongue out at JC.

	"Right then Tom, it's fairly simple really. Your emotions play a
bigger part in your magic then you might think. This means that you
have got to try to keep them under control. For example, if you get really
angry in a magical fight, then all you want to do is lash out, hurt
someone or something and that can be good, because your power will
increase accordingly. What you have to learn to do is channel that anger
into your magic, not let it get control of you. If you channel it then you
end up with a more powerful spell, if you don't, then you could do
something rash, make a mistake and end up dead. It's the same with
other emotions, if you are happy, the power of your healing magic will
go up. All you've got to do is make sure your emotions don't get the
better of you, that you remain in control. That's all that I have to say, as
long as you've listened?"

	"I heard you. I guess it's obvious, if you think about it." I said.

	"I know." JC sighed. "But I was told to tell you anyway. Want
to move on to flying?"

	"Might as well. I don't have any other plans." I said.

	"Come on, we're going to have to be outside for this." He
grinned. "The first couple of tries are always interesting."

	I looked out the window at - well, at nothing really, it was pitch
dark outside. "Out there?" I asked. "It's completely black!"

	JC sighed exaggeratedly. "Well if light is really that important
to you..." He pushed open the doors and we walked out onto the lawn.
He looked at Justin. "Will you do the honours?"

	Justin grinned and looked up to the sky. I could see the power
rushing into him and he raised both hands to the sky and he cried one
word in a commanding tone - "Solas!" The magic rushed upwards from
his hands and suddenly a bright light shone from above us, showing up
the entire garden.

	"Show-off." I muttered.

	"You're just jealous." He shot back.

	"Of you?" I laughed. "Never."

	"Quit it." Said JC. "Can we got on with it? Sit down Tom."

	I did as he said and sat on the ground.

	"Now close your eyes and open your mind to the world around
you. Run your mind over everything and get a feel for the layout. Try to
develop a sense of where you are."

	I nodded gently and breathing gently, I slipped into a tranquil
place. I was aware of Justin standing behind me, and JC to my side, both
watching me carefully. I could feel the gentle roll of the lawn, not as flat
as my eyes would have me believe. The wind whispering through the
grass and between the leaves of the trees. Behind me the looming
presence of the house, vibrating slightly as the magic flowed through it.
Inside it I could feel Lance and Chris moving around as they searched
for Joey and, in the middle of it all there was me sitting quietly, my only
movement being through time. Time! Of course! JC's descriptions of
time control came back to me and it made sense. All you had to do was
get a grip on everything around you, it was clear to me. I dismissed the
revelation for now and concentrated on what I was meant to do. I was
looking at myself and suddenly I came into focus. My position in the
world was clear to me.

	"Good." Said JC. "Now, keep your eyes closed, and move
yourself like you'd move anything else. Push upwards, and that's the
way that you'll go. Over some practise it'll become instinctual, but for
now you're going to have to think about every small movement."

	I nodded gently again and pushing, felt myself rise slowly into
the air.

	"That's good." Said JC encouragingly. "Now, stop going
upwards and just stay where you are."


	I concentrated again, and fell a couple of inches before I got a
grip and held myself up.

	"Ok. Now, move yourself to the side."

	"Like this?" I asked. I still had my eyes closed, and because I
was concentrating on the telekinesis I couldn't tell where either of them
were standing any more. I moved to the side and heard someone get out
of the way.

	"Exactly like that, now, do it with your eyes open." Said JC.

	I opened my eyes and looked down. I wasn't really that high off
the ground, 5-foot at most. Having my eyes open wasn't that much of a
distraction and I quickly repeated the same movements again, proving to
JC that I was capable.

	He grinned. "This is the fun part. See what you can do. I'll stay
down here to catch you if you fall. But I'm sure that..." He turned to
Justin and all he got was a rush of wind in his face. "Justin... never
mind." He said, looking up and seeing that Justin was already beside me.

	"You ready?" I asked Justin.

	"You know it!" He responded.

	I looked up, and, adopting a superman like pose, I flung myself
skywards. Justin reacted rapidly and was quickly by my side again. I
swiftly moved to the side and he moved just as quickly. I spent the nest
five minutes trying to shake him and failed. I pretended to give up and
flew back down to the ground, and landed beside JC.

	"What do you think?" He asked.

	"Exhilarating, I'd no idea." I answered. I saw Justin land close
by out of the corner of my eye and watched him walking towards us. As
soon as he came within arms reach I threw him backwards and leapt into
the sky, pushing as hard as I could to go faster. I risked a look back and
saw him steady himself just before he rocketed skywards to give chase. I
turned to look forwards again and levelled off, now flying parallel to the
ground below. I kept going faster, until I'd left the house far behind. I
looked back again. But couldn't see anything because of the darkness. I
mentally slapped myself for forgetting about my other senses and probed
the darkness for any sign of his magic.

	/You're going pretty fast Tom, but do you think it's fast
enough?/ Asked Justin telepathically.

	/I've no idea Justin./ I said, still trying to find him. /But you
haven't caught me yet, have you?/

	/Not yet, but I'm working on it. When you fly telekinetically
you leave a kind of an echo in the magic in the air before you turn, it's
by finding those echoes that I can tell where you're moving, or which
way you're turning, before you move. That's how I managed to stay so
close to you./ He said. Just then I found him and laughed, realising that
he was nowhere near me. Then the laughter died, I had just realised that
I had no idea where I was. Look for JC. I thought. And I eventually
found him, barely registering, I'd gone so far. I turned around in a wide
loop and flew back to the house. I landed on the patio and then went
inside. Suddenly I felt very tired. Must have been exerting myself a bit
too much for my first time, I thought, and headed straight for bed. I
staggered into the room, took off all my clothes and collapsed into bed.

	"So that's where you are." Said Justin, opening the door and
flooding the room with light.

	"If you're coming in close the door." I groaned. My eyes had
already adjusted to the dark.

	"Ok." He said and he entered the room fully, closing the door
behind him. I heard the rustling of him taking his clothes off and I felt
him get into the bed. "I guess you're fairly tired. I know that JC only
managed to fly a couple of hundred feet before he had to come down
and go to sleep, the first time." He slipped his arm around me and kissed
me on the neck, the stubble on his chin brushing against my back. He
pulled me close to him and I fell asleep, as he whispered good night in
my ear.

---------------------------------

	The next day Lance took over the teaching and taught me the
more rudimentary healing magic, that only took the morning and by
lunch time I'd learnt all that Lance claimed that he could teach me in
one day, saying that healing magic was odd, in that you could only learn
a bit at a time. You had to let it sink in, like you've got to let paint dry
before you add another coat. As soon as we'd eaten JC kidnapped me
and said that it was time to start learning some of the more powerful
magic, some of the actual spells. He brought me to a room in the house
that I hadn't seen yet. But by books lining the walls I could see that it
was a library. He traced his finger over volumes until he got to the one
that he wanted. He took it down from the shelf and brought it over to a
pair of armchairs, where he sat down.

	"Spells aren't really what you probably think of them Tom." He
started. "Hollywood really hasn't gotten a grasp on what magic really is
about, and let's hope that they never do. The words of a spell are really a
focus, something that twists your mind in a certain way and brings out
the power in *you* to do something that you couldn't do otherwise. You
have to have that power in you already; otherwise anybody could say the
words and cast a spell. It's the same thing with runes."

	I interrupted him. "I meant to ask earlier, what are runes, I
mean - I can recognise them, but I don't actually know what they do."

	"Oh, don't you? Right! I keep forgetting that you weren't born
into this sort of thing. We all grew up with these words and the
implications of them so it's hard to remember sometimes. Ok, a rune
isn't actually much really. You can use them to activate spells that are
already in existence in a place, they can be used as the key to a lock, like
in the council hall, you have to trace a certain rune and then the doors
open for you. They can also act in the same way that the words of a spell
do - they focus the mind. That's all there really is to runes, unless you
want the *long* explanation?"

	"Nah... I'll be ok without that." I said, not liking the tone in his
voice when he said long.

	"Fine. Baram asked me to teach you the teleportation spells, but
I want to start off with something a bit simpler then that, hopefully if we
get these done by the end of the night then we can go attack those vamps
tomorrow."

	"You make it sound like homework." I joked.

	"I guess you could call it that." He grinned. "You've got to
learn them and there's no choice in it really, unless you want to go
'round without any spells."

	"Fine..." I sighed melodramatically. "Let's get on with it."

	"Right, this one is a simple levitation spell, I know you already
know telekinesis, but it's just to give you an idea. It's only got one word
to it, but the pronunciation is important. Just point a finger at something
that you want to levitate, and say the word."

	"Suas." I said. Nothing happened.

	"Put more emphasis on the 'a'." Instructed JC.

	"Suas." I repeated. A ribbon of magic drifted out at the table I
was pointing at and slowly it floated into the air.

	"That's good. Now." He said, pointing at another line of text in
the book. "Read this out and the table will go back down onto the floor."

	"SĦos." I said. The table stopped moving upwards and then
returned to the ground.

	"Ok, that's it. There's nothing to them really. You want to work
on some more?" JC asked.

	I was really enjoying myself so naturally I said yes. We took a
look at a couple of the protection spells, protecting large places
physically, instead of just myself.

	"Ok, I reckon that we're ready to work on that teleportation
spell. There are a couple of them, but I'm going to show you the
simplest one, it's the one that we use. You saw the one's that Baram and
the council use, they're far more complex, but you can keep those spells
active and move as much as you want through them, which is the
difference."

	"And with this one?" I asked.

	"Well, you saw it - you can bring anything that is in physical
contact with you, that's why we all hold hands, it's easier then all of us
saying the spell individually. Now, with this spell saying the words isn't
enough, you also have to know where you are going, you've got to have
an image in your mind of it, that's the limitation - you can't go
anywhere that you haven't been before."

	"Ok."

 "Fix your mind on somewhere that you want to go, say... just
to the other side of the room and say these words." He jotted down a
sentence on a sheet of paper and handed it to me.

"Go tapa ansuid, agus nĦ anseo f˘s." I said, mangling the
pronunciation.

	JC winced. "Ouch. Here's a hint - the above the vowels
basically are there instead of a double letter, so pronounce it like that."

	After a couple more false tries I managed to get the sentence
right and was teleported across the room. After a couple more practise
runs it was fine.

	"I think that's enough for today, don't you? I'm sure that Justin
can find a use for you." He grinned.

	"You're pathetic." I said. I went out to find Justin again lying
on the lawn working on his tan, it wasn't that unusual, but when I looked
at my watch I discovered how much time had actually gone past while I
was working with JC. It was almost ten at night. "I thought you said you
were going to leave the weather alone?"

	"We're fighting vampires tomorrow. I need a good tan, just to
show them what they're missing. Besides, it's just a bit of light. No one
else can see it."

	I laughed at his comment and lay down beside him. "What was
it like, growing up knowing about all this kind of stuff, you know, blood
sucking monsters and demons?"

	"I didn't. They didn't tell me about the vamps until I was
fifteen."

	"But I thought you said..."

	"I said that we grew up with magic. I didn't say that we grew
up being told about the hundreds of things that would love to have a
chance to eat you!"

	"But you knew about the black and white mages?" I asked.

	"Of course." Justin turned to face me and spoke. "You've got to
realise that it was a part of who we all were since we were born. You've
only had a couple of weeks to come to terms with everything, you
probably think that it's all really weird, but this is normal for me, for
us."

	"And you were never scared? Knowing that somewhere down
the street, maybe, there was a person who could fry you to a crisp by
looking at you." I said.

	Justin sighed. "Look at it this way Tom, it's like having a bully
live down the road, or go to your school, you know that he's there, sure,
you're wary of him, but if you know that you're as strong as him, you
don't stop going to school, it doesn't mean that you stay in your house,
always looking out the window to make sure that he's not coming, do
you? You don't. You get on with your life. That's what we all did."

	"Sorry, it's just... like you said, this is all new to me, I've lived
a life without knowing about a part of me that was there the entire time,
and there's this whole other world that I don't know about, things that
you were taught as a child and that I'm expected to know, but I don't!
It's like I'm blind, trying to feel my way around and hoping not to bump
into too many things on my way." I finally had said what I'd been
thinking ever since going to see the council, everyone there had seemed
to know their way around, and they expected me to do the same.

	"Oh Tom... I didn't know. You're right, I hadn't thought about
how it must be for you. I'm so sorry." Said Justin.

	"It's not your fault Justin."

	"I know, but I should have thought about you. I'm supposed to
look out for you!"

	"Why?"

	"Because I'm your boyfriend! I'd do anything for you." He
said, pulling closer to me. I love you, you know that, don't you?"

	He loved me? How could he say that? We'd only known each
other for a couple of weeks, how could he be so sure? I didn't know
what to say back, I thought I'd been in love before and I'd been wrong,
could I be sure? I didn't think that I could say it to him. I looked at him;
he was waiting for me to say something back. "I... I... I don't know what
to say." I stammered.

	"You could say that you love me to, that would work." He said,
grinning.

	"Justin..."

	He heard the tone in my voice and the grin disappeared.
"What's wrong? Don't you love me?" He pleaded, searching my face
with his eyes for any sign that I was joking.

	"Justin... I don't know... It's too soon... I can't say, I don't
know."

	A tear formed in one of his eyes and he turned away from me.

	"Justin..." I said.

	"I don't think I can talk to you right now Tom." He said, his
voice breaking with the sobs. The light in the sky faded and we were on
the lawn, with only the lights glowing from the house.

	I got up silently and went inside and straight up to my room. I
closed the door behind me and lent against it, the tears falling from my
eyes. I couldn't hold it back anymore and I fell onto the bed crying.
About an hour later there was a knock on the door.

	"Tom?" It was JC; he didn't wait for a response, but kept on
speaking. "I don't know what happened there but if you need to talk..."
He paused, giving me an opportunity to say something, I didn't take him
up on it. "Ok, fine. I'll see you in the morning, we're still going to be
hitting the vampires tomorrow, early." I heard his footsteps echo down
the hall and he was gone. Eventually I stopped crying, but my sides
ached with sadness, and that night Justin didn't slip into bed and hold
me tight to him.

------------------------------

	There you have it! Next chapter, the big vampire fight! I hope
you enjoyed reading this chapter. If you did, (or even if you didn't)
please write to me, I love getting e-mail, it doesn't matter if you've
written to me before, I want to hear from you again, and if you write to
me after every chapter, then keep doing so!

	The e-mail address is shiningstar@oceanfree.net.

		Tim.