He had helped Faith and Crissy's mom teach them to control and hide their magic, though, and those were her favorite memories of the gruff old man. Sitting in his lap and watching him do fantastic things in his basement workshop: moving things without touching them, lighting candles, sending showers of rainbow sparks dancing through the air chasing after themselves.
Crissy had been so excited when she first lit a candle on her own. And they had both been fairly thrilled when Faith had gotten her own magic to bump a glass of water over the desk a few inches before she lost control and it tipped over. It was that skill that eventually turned into her shield, though she hadn't remembered about it since they were kids. She had thought it up one day when they were out in the woods, playing a made up game of dragons and warrior-princesses and she had wanted to fend off the water gun attack from the wicked Queen Crissy.
"I'm sorry that such a wonderful gift has become a threat to you," Aldric said.
"So, some vampire covens turned to the dark side," Faith said, trying to break the tension a bit. She figured it worked when Aldric huffed a small laugh.
"Exactly so. Others tried to stem the tide of the evil, just like some humans tried to shield those the Nazis hunted, and after a long war we succeeded. Tens of thousands of wolves and vampires and more than a few mages died that last week. Wilhelm himself was defeated in a bloody, terrible battle, and several of his inner circle were killed outright. Over the next few months most of the rest were captured or killed. All the main leaders of that coven are dead and most of the membership as well,” Aldric grimaced. "I remember the day my uncle came in with the news. There was such a sense of relief, but the damage was done."
"All the mages had disappeared, and you thought they were all dead," Faith finished. Aldric nodded. The Frostwalker’s own Magestra was far too old to fight by then, and she lived just long enough to celebrate their victory, such as it was. That had seemed to be the case with all the rest of the magic users that had survived the war.
"So, what does that have to do with–"
"Hey, you guys?" Marc's voice was accompanied by a soft knock on the door. "Dinner's ready, and I've got the kids washing up. Also, if you're going to call the police, you should do it sooner rather than later or they'll get crabby."
"I'm not really hungry," Faith said. There was too much for her to mentally digest for her to let her stomach get in on the action.
"Will you continue to trust us?" Aldric asked. "I know that we are still essentially strangers, but I would not like to send you and miss Kaylee out into the world unprotected and uninformed."
"I don't want to go out there where those things could be waiting. Do you have any idea why they were there? I've managed to make it more than thirty years now without even hearing a whisper about the existence of those monsters." She grimaced and slumped a bit. "Or you guys, for that matter."
“You said that your grandfather's education was incomplete when he was sent into hiding," Aldric said. He stood and held a hand out to Faith, and she felt it was as much good manners as it was an olive branch of sorts. He clearly didn't want her to be afraid of him. Or his friends, for that matter.
She took his hand and let him steady her as she stood, then she sighed and admitted, “Our education was even less complete. I think we should call the police first, and then later if I'm hungry, I can have leftovers. If that's not super rude?"
"I believe that is a wise choice of action." Aldric said. "I will accompany you. I am familiar with several of the local officers."
"Are they..." Faith wasn't sure how to ask what she wanted to know.
"No," Aldric grinned. "None of them are paranormal in nature. Purely human, though one of them is married to a clan member. And several years ago we had a vagrant wolf come through town, and I was called upon to assist the police in apprehending him. Poor man. Served our country loyally, but when his injuries were too severe, he had nowhere to go but into a bottle.”
Faith blinked. "A homeless werewolf veteran with PTSD? Is that what you're talking about?"
"Indeed. Marc managed to find him a pack where he could be treated and looked after by his own kind— other wolves who had been to war in the modern military and understood his difficulties— and the last we heard he was doing much better.“ Aldric led her back downstairs where Kaylee and Jake were giggling to each other at the table and ignoring the adults chatting around them.
"Kaylee-bee. Having a good afternoon?" Faith perched on a chair on the other side of her niece from Jack.
"Oh my gosh, their backyard is so cool! There's a slide and swings and a fort and we pretended to be arresting Miss Tamika for releasing monster dogs into a barn and scaring the cows and then we played tag but then Jake tripped so we played on the swings instead and ohmygosh, Miss Tamika pushed me SO HIGH and it was the coolest and now Jake's my best friend ever and I want to move and go to school here and I'm gonna ask Mom when she gets back and do you think she'll be okay with it?"
Faith blinked at her niece who was beaming at her and Jake who was grinning hopefully over Kaylee's shoulder and was honestly at a loss
