Night Touched

Heritage

Lyra

This was it. Lyra thought. She clutched the envelope that she had looked at some many times since she turned eighteen, that the edges had started to fray. How often had she wanted to open this and see who her real parents were? Lyra hadn't needed to know until now. Now she was so alone.

My mother was murdered... Lyra thought as her heart clenched in her chest. Her real mom, who had raised her since she was a baby. No matter what this envelope said, Claire would always be her real mother.  Lyra felt tears sting down her cheeks leaving hot trails. She was truly alone now.

She held the envelope between her fingers, noting that the color had started to fade. It had lain unopened for almost three years on her desk. Lyra hadn't be able to open it because she didn't want Claire to think she longed for her other family. How could she? They had given her away. If there even was a "they."

"You don't have to open it now, if you're not ready." Asher said supportively.

"I need to know; especially with everything that has happened. I can't keep hiding from the truth about where I come from. Not after last night... with my Mom..." I trailed off, my voice full of sadness.

"I spoke to Sergei about that earlier while you were sleeping. Everything was cleaned up so that the human authorities, will be none the wiser. But there's a couple things you should know." Asher said tentatively, his eyes searching my face.

"Like what? Does he have an idea who did this?" I asked him quickly.

"No leads yet are to who is responsible," he said, shaking his head sadly, "But this isn't the first murder, Ly. Paulette, from the Culinary School you went to, was also killed a few days ago." He trailed off hesitating.

"Paulette?," I said blanching, "Wait a second, I never told you I went to culinary school! Have you been looking into me or something?" I asked him questioningly.

Asher shifted uncomfortably, "Well, you mentioned a friend getting an internship and I just looked through our recruits and found Ms. Crane's file. Then one thing lead to another, and Sergei was already investigating Paulette's killing."

My eyes widened surprised, "So you did try and look into me." I teased him. Did you find anything else out? I mean, do I even need to open this envelope or can you tell me where I came from too?"

"I only know what you've told me about yourself; and where you went to college. I swear." Asher smirked, raising his hand into the air like a Boy Scout.

I snorted. "You're no saint, Ash. I've earned that much fro our brief time together. So don't give me that innocent crap." I retorted, squeezing his knee with my hand playfully.

A flash of desire went across his eyes; but I watched as he shook it off, steeling himself, his face growing more serious, "Lyra, there are a few more details about the killings you should know, for the sake of transparency. I don't want to hide things from you, but these details are troubling." He told me solemnly.

I felt the air go out of my lungs, "Troubling how? I can handle whatever it is." I said strongly.

"Well, both had sigils written in blood on them as well was at the scene. Sergei's source told him the sigil represents chaos. He also said they were related to a summoning ritual of some sort." He said cautiously.

My throat felt thick, "A summoning ritual? Asher, I'm not sure how much you know about Mages or how we operate, but what the hell were they summoning? Is it already here? Most summoning rituals are only done once; not repeatedly... Is there anything else I need to know?" I asked incredulously.