Affinity

Part 1 - Chapter 1 - Aaralyn

Paris, France - April 1810

The early morning was already bright. The forest floor was streaked in shadow and golden sunlight, and the birds were singing cheerfully. Beneath them, Aaralyn D'Amour moved among the trees, down a path she had travelled many times. But that morning she was travelling it slowly, almost wearily. Despite the tranquil beauty around her, she bore heavy uncertainty on her shoulders.

At just twenty years old, the young witch found herself caught in a complicated cycle of acceptance and doubt. Over and over again, she decided to finally, once and for all, accept who she was in the world. But she would always, eventually, be forced to admit she could not deny her self-contempt. Recently, her facial expressions had begun to betray her thoughts, and she could do nothing to stop them save for fleeing to the solitude of the woods. And now, for the first time, long-hidden worries were written clearly on her face.

She lifted her eyes to the branches above her and groaned. The birds took no notice, nor, understandably, did they seem to particularly care. So she took a breath and renewed her efforts to reason with herself.

Witches and vampires had been at war for as long as history could recall. Enough myth surrounded the war that the original reason for the fighting had been completely obscured by time and lies. Then, after centuries of bloodshed, the church rose to power in Europe, and its excessive fear mongering turned every corner of society against anything that so much as hinted at the supernatural.

The war between witches and vampires had combined with that skittish fear of the human masses, and the stakes had been raised even higher. The witches and vampires found themselves reluctant allies in their new fight to just survive. So, more than three hundred years ago, the leaders of the two most powerful witch covens, the Celandine and the Serpiente, met in Italy at the castle residence of the vampire Elders, known only as "the fortress," and a treaty had been established. They set in place strict rules to govern both sides and ensure peace, and they decided that the fortress would serve as neutral ground for council and court, presided over by the Elders and the leaders of the witch community.

Aaralyn pursed her lips and made a sound low in her throat. She was so tired of the politics of war and treaties. She had only joined a coven because she had felt there was no other option for her. Her family had taken up their positions against rebel vampires, and she had grown up feeling the pressure to do the same. When the much-mythologized leader of the Celandine coven, Nicholas Verden himself, had come to her parents in their little country home in the south of France, she had found herself with even less of a choice.

As Nicholas often reminded her, her magic was something special. She was the first witch in centuries to be born with her specific powers: the ability to control the natural elements and the life forces around her. He had called it spirit magic. During their first meeting in her parents' sitting room, he had told her that the authorities at the fortress had heard of her gift and would raise her to a position of power among both witches and vampires.

At only ten years old, Aaralyn hadn't understood it. In truth, she still didn't. But Nicholas had convinced her parents that there was nothing they could do to help their daughter progress. Her power would be too much for them to handle and develop. Nicholas had assured her parents that he alone could guarantee that her rare power would be used for the glory of witchcraft, that it was only with him and the Celandine that she could realize her potential and fulfill her destiny. So her parents had bid her a sad farewell and lifted her into Nicholas's carriage.

She had never blamed Nicholas for taking her away from her home, and she had never blamed her family for letting him. Rather, she understood that there was much she owed Nicholas. He had always provided for her every need, and he had fulfilled almost every promise he had made her. When her parents had died less than a year after they had sent her away, Nicholas had even taken her in and become her adoptive father. He had taught her to be more powerful than she ever would have been without his help, and he had given her a position of honor in the coven by naming her to his advisory council. He kept assuring her that the Elders admired how much she had grown, and he promised that one day she would meet them and receive her reward for her service. However, that was the one promise he had yet to fulfill. Quite frankly, she didn't mind. The idea of meeting the Elders at the fortress, about which she had heard only horror stories, made her more than a little uncomfortable.