Zora's Dawn (Defender Book 1) (3 page)

Zora
stared at Powers. He was serious about all of this, she could see he really
meant it. But supernatural creatures? A werewolf? Powers? Wait a minute,
Powers?? She mentally replayed the conversation, before turning puzzled golden
eyes to Powers.

“What
exactly are you saying Powers? I’m having enough trouble fathoming that you
want me to believe there is a werewolf, and now you are saying you are
supernatural too? I mean I know your skin almost glows it’s so white, but a lot
of people are like that.”

Powers
smiled a little at her reference to his skin colour, then sighed. “There’s
really no easy way to tell you. I’m going to have to show you. And after I do I
have to explain a lot to you. So I’ll show you, make you some more coffee and
some lunch and I’ll tell you the rest over lunch, ok?”

Zora
frowned. He seemed so serious, it was making her feel anxious. His skin was
white and almost glowed and he was a beautiful man. Maybe he was a vampire.
Even as she thought it her mind rejected the idea that vampires might exist. And
anyway, didn’t vampires spontaneously combust in the sun? So surely not
vampire. She racked her brain but couldn’t remember any other supernatural
creatures but fairies. With that thought came a mental image of Powers wearing
a tutu, pink wings on his back and a sparkly golden wand in his hand. The image
was so absurd that she relaxed and picked up her coffee. What was the worst he
could do?

The coffee
hit the floor and she shrieked and shrank back in her chair when he showed her.
Powers hadn’t moved from his seat, but the hand that he rested on her arm
wasn’t a hand, it had claws. And when she looked up at his face in shock his
eyes had changed, turned unmistakably feline and golden. The hand on her arm
was a paw, slender and golden and scattered with black spots. The claws were
short and a little blunt, only half retracted. It looked like…

She looked
back at the weird feline eyes. “What did you just do? Is this a cheetah? Why is
it only your eyes and one hand?”

Even as
she watched the eyes kind of blurred and returned to the dark beautiful eyes of
Powers. She looked down at his hand and it was just as it always was - a strong
hand with long artistic fingers, resting on her arm.

Eyes wide
she stared back at his face. “Well?”

Powers met
her gaze squarely. “I’m a shapeshifter. I can take on the characteristics of
just about anything, but some forms are easier for me. I didn’t want to change
into the whole animal and have you freak out on me! So, I will make you a new
coffee since yours is now on the floor, and some lunch and then we will talk.”

And all
Zora could do was nod dazedly. He had partially turned into a big cat. Her
favourite cat, but still… Powers was rising out of his chair, his face worried
as he studied her. She supposed she was a little pale now, she was feeling a
little pale, even insubstantial. As he turned to enter the house a thought
occurred to her. “Powers, wait a minute.”

He paused
and looked at her enquiringly, one black eyebrow raised.

“Can you
read minds? Is that one of your supernatural abilities?”

Powers
looked a little uncomfortable. “I can pick up thoughts and images from you,
sometimes I can see you in my mind. It is necessary for me to have a strong
connection to you, and I will explain why over lunch. Other people, not so
much. I guess you can describe it as an extra dash of empathy.”

Zora
opened her mouth, but his raised hand forestalled her. “No more yet, first more
coffee and lunch, then we will talk. You need food.”

Glancing
down at the coffee spreading over the floorboards Zora reached over to pick up
the now empty cup. “Well at least let me clean up this mess while you do that.”

Powers
smiled, “Deal!”

Over
lunch, which Zora devoured with an appetite she couldn’t conceal, Powers kept
the conversation light and she was happy to go along with him. She really
didn’t want to know what he seemed so hell bent on telling her. But once they
had eaten and had taken yet more coffee out to the veranda his expression
turned serious. Zora swallowed hard, she just knew she wasn’t going to like
this at all.

Powers
hesitated, how to begin a conversation like this? At the beginning he supposed.
“Zora, do you remember your mother ever tell you anything about our families?”

Zora
looked at him blankly. “What do you mean, our families? How would she know
you?”

Sighing,
Powers closed his eyes briefly. It was as he thought. Her mother had died when
she was so young, and she remembered nothing. He knew that her father was
completely ignorant about who his wife was so he would not have been able to
tell Zora anything.

“Zora, our
families have always known each other. If that accident hadn’t had happened you
would have learned about your heritage. My family decided not to tell you anything
since you were so young and had no memory of that day, and your father did not
know anything about who your mother really was. We had always planned on
telling you one day, and I have been monitoring you.”

Zora
stared at him blankly. She didn’t understand what he was saying. Their families
knew each other? Then why didn’t he say something when she started this job? What
was it her mother didn’t tell her and what was it about the day of the accident?
Zora’s hand went automatically to her pendant. She had not once taken it off
since the day her mother placed it around her neck and told her to wear it
always as it would bring her good luck. Whether it did or not, it was the last
thing her mother had ever given her, she would never part with it. Powers
watched her hand movement and stared at the pendant.

“Ah, your
pendant. Did you mother tell you anything about it that you can remember? Tell
me Zora, what does it feel like right now?”

Frowning
in puzzlement she looked down at the gleaming oval. Mostly gold in colour it
was shot through with streaks of brown and dotted with darker gold stars. It
was beautiful but that was not was Powers was looking for she was sure.
Tentatively she replied, “Smooth, I guess. It’s a tiger eye, mum said it was
like my eyes.”

“Yes it
is, but that’s not what I meant. Feel it, can you feel it warming up under your
fingers, or is it cold?”

“It’s
cold, it’s often cold for no real reason. I hold it and it warms up again.”

“It’s cold
right now because of its properties. It’s been in your family for generations.
A fairy known to one of your ancestors spelled it so that it can sense
supernatural beings. It goes cold when you are near one. Pay it attention, if
you miss the signs in yourself it will warn you.”

Zora
looked down at the ordinary looking stone, and back at Powers. It was cold, but
thinking about it, she was sure it was not cold but warm back at the crime
scene. And did he say
fairy
?!

“We will
get to fairies later, you’ll be meeting one. For now, believe that the pendant
will help you. I think right now it would be cool and not cold, as I am bound
to you as your guardian. The werewolf is a rogue, and it is because of such as
it that your family was bespelled. In truth I do not know much more, but you
will learn from someone who does.”

Zora held
up a hand. “Ok, back the information bus up there Powers. Fairies, spells,
rogue werewolves, what do you mean
bound to me?
”

“I’m not
handling this at all well. Ok, your mother introduced us because our families
have been intertwined for generations. There is always a Barnham born to
protect a Hayes. Did you never wonder why your mother kept her maiden name? The
Hayes women stretch in an unbroken line of defenders and the Barnham men as
their guardians. We are born some years before the women so in effect the birth
of a Barnham means there is a new defender on the way.

I was
bound to you from the moment of your birth. I have felt you, seen you
sometimes. I knew your face and some of your thoughts. I knew much about you
and I watched from a distance. When you chose your career I knew it was the
perfect way to get you to the same town so I could better protect you. It is
fate that you are here, for this is the first rogue werewolf in two
generations.”

Zora held
up her hand again. “Wait a minute, what do you mean we were introduced? I’ve
never seen you before I’m sure.
And I
’ve been here for five
months - you’ve never once given a clue about all of this. Why?”

Powers
sighed. “I know you have no memory of the day of the accident, which is why you
don’t remember me. You mother brought you to our family to introduce us and the
accident happened while you were on the way home. I didn’t know how to tell you
without causing you pain, and I liked seeing you happy. But this is a rogue
werewolf and it is your responsibility and mine to go after it.”

Eyes huge
in her face, every other farfetched thing he told her fleeing from her mind,
Zora zeroed in on the big, big thing. “What do you mean
my responsibility
?!
I just today learned that such things exist and the jury’s still out on that
one by the way, so how can this have anything to do with me? Surely there are
other families like mine that can handle this? And when you say rogue werewolf,
does that mean there are not-rogue werewolves?”

Briefly
cursing his role in informing her, Powers took a deep breath.  

“First,
yes there are many packs of werewolves scattered around the world. Contrary to
popular fiction, werewolves are committed to living in harmony with humans –
they blend in and try to protect people. But occasionally there comes a rogue,
one that feels humans are nothing but prey. Families like yours and mine came
about because of a fairy spell. A selection of families was chosen throughout
the world and bespelled to become human defenders. Rogue werewolves prey on
humans and by bespelling these human families the fairies gave them a way of
protecting humankind against such a threat. You also have the ability as I said
to sense other supernaturals. We the guardian families were chosen because we
are shapeshifters, to help keep you safe. Each of our families was bespelled to
be bound to one of the chosen human families. Obviously it’s a rather dangerous
job.”

Zora
snorted, “Obviously! But again, how did this become my responsibility? I don’t
even know what I am or how to do what it is that I supposedly do.”

“It is the
responsibility of the defender to take care of the rogue werewolves as they
arise. Your family has always been the strongest. The reaction you had today at
the crime scene was extraordinary given that you are completely untrained. When
you have learned to harness your ability you will be able not only to sense it,
but also to get a picture of it and even how long ago it was there and where it
was headed.”

Zora
snorted again. “Don’t be absurd Powers. I was frozen to the spot and it got
windy. I for sure didn’t ‘see’ anything or ‘sense’ anything beyond that it was
pretty weird.”

Powers
studied her face seriously. “Are you sure Zora? Are you certain you didn’t get
a picture inside your head, just a flash maybe?” Zora shook her head, then
paused mid shake. There had been that flash of…no, it wasn’t anything.

Powers saw
her hesitation and leaned closer. “What is it Zora, did you see something?”

“Don’t be
ridiculous. Of course not! It was just a mental flash, probably brought on by
my nerves.”

“Tell me
anyway, what was this flash?”

Sighing,
Zora closed her eyes as she concentrated on remembering that moment. With the
general weirdness she had dismissed it entirely. She frowned as it came back
into her mind. “Eyes, yellow eyes. Not human eyes, but intelligent. And they
were looking right at me.”

Powers
smiled in triumph. “You see? No training, no knowledge of what you are and
still you used your natural ability. When you are trained you will receive much
more information.”

Zora was
not nearly as pleased as Powers, she didn’t want to receive information on some
sort of homicidal supernatural creature. For all she knew, this conduit was
two-way. Now there was a scary thought!”

“But not
one to worry about. You receive, you do not transmit Zora, and werewolves are
not telepathic.”

Zora
narrowed her eyes at him. “You know it’s kind of creepy the way you crawl about
inside my head. I don’t think I like it.”

“It’s been
happening a lot more lately, which is not surprising since there is a werewolf
in town.”

Zora
choked on the mouthful of coffee she had just taken. Until he put it like that,
she hadn’t fully understood it. There was a werewolf in town. If you believed
in such things, and she didn’t. Well she hadn’t this morning. She didn’t want
to believe in something that had given her child self nightmares. She couldn’t
even watch Twilight for goodness sakes. She looked at Powers’ hand where it
rested on the small table he had pulled over to put their coffee on. So she
didn’t spill hers again, she thought. Had she really seen it change into a paw?

“Zora.”
She looked up as he said her name, and almost dropped her coffee again when she
saw the golden feline eyes looking back at her.

“God
Powers! Don’t do that without any warning!”

Instantly
contrite he changed back to his human eyes. “I’m sorry, I just wanted you to be
quite sure you were not dreaming or imagining things.”

Zora felt
a wave of panic wash through her. “Powers I can’t do this, I don’t even know
what it is I am supposed to do! I’m not prepared, I’m not trained, I’m just a
human woman. What use could I be?”

 “Zora we
won’t be alone. There is a fairy coming, and a vampire. They are going to meet
with us here, and together we will come up with a plan.”

Zora
turned huge eyes on him.  “Are you serious?? A fairy and a
vampire?
I
thought you said this was about werewolves, why would a vampire be coming
here?”

“All
supernaturals come together when there is a threat. A rogue werewolf is a
threat to humans and to the balance we currently have living within your
communities.”

Zora
stared at him, speechless. All the things he was saying, they were crazy.
Surely if the human population shared the planet with supernatural beings word
would have gotten out long before now.

“Think
Zora, you know about werewolves, vampires and fairies. But you believe they are
myths. The human mind is very good at hiding from a scary truth. Generations of
humans have turned what is truth into a myth that has no power to destroy, only
to scare children. But be sure, they are all real.”

Frowning,
Zora spoke her thoughts out loud, even though he probably could just read her
mind. “I don’t get it. Say I can sense a supernatural, I can stand on a crime
scene and see which werewolf it was and maybe where it is going. But what use
it that? How does that make me strong? Surely a vampire can just suck it dry?
And what about other werewolves, can’t one of them rip out its throat?”

Powers
smiled a little at the mental images her words conjured up. “Zora there are
rules within the supernatural community, however a rogue falls outside of those
rules. Nowadays once a rogue does something like this the supernatural
community has a duty to deal with the problem. But a long time ago this was not
the case; each species dealt with its rogue members as it saw fit. However
there was a large human toll with that approach and the fairies especially
wanted to address this issue. That is why the fairies bespelled the human
families, so that within your species you also have people capable of dealing
with the rogues.

These days
the supernatural community is more proactive and we band together to deal with
the more difficult rogues such as we fear this one is. The defenders work with
us because your abilities are very valuable. You can do more than just sense
the werewolf, you can track it.”

Zora
snorted at this, and rolled her eyes mentally at that idea. “I don’t think so
Powers, I can’t even find my way across town without using Google Maps, and I
always lose my car in the carpark. How on earth can I track a werewolf?”