I stood staring around the basement bedroom in awe. Deep cream coloured carpets covered the hardwood floor, a king sized four post bed set in the middle of one peach coloured wall, while the other contained a curtain covering what must be a huge false window, as it showed me a view of a zen garden, complete with slow moving stream, stone pathways and manicured shrubs littering well trimmed lawns.
Taking out my toiletries bag I headed to what must be the ensuite bathroom, finding it every bit as luxurious as the bedroom itself, with a rainfall shower and separate deep jetted tub. A woven basket held an assortment of body washes, scrubs, and hair products, as well as a pair of fluffy peach coloured towels that were as warm as if they’d just come out of the dryer. Another oddity to ask about.
What is this place? Nothing at all was what it seemed to be. Finishing my shower, I donned a comfortable pair of black leggings paired with an oversized light blue hoodie and resolved to call Karl to finally get my answers. Only to realize I was in fact in a bunker, with predictably zero cell phone service.
At just that moment a landline phone on the night stand rang.
"Hey, are you all freshened up yet?"
"Just now, thank you. I have a million questions for you"
I could hear Karl’s laughter through the phone "I’ll pick you up in just a moment".
A moment was apparently literal, as barely ten seconds had passed before there was a knock on my door, followed by Karl entering without waiting for an answer. I guess I forgot to lock that.
He looked me over once, nodded to himself and headed straight for my luggage. "You’ll need some shoes for the garden" he muttered, withdrawing a pair of blue vans that matched my hoodie. Vans I was absolutely sure I did not own, much less pack for my very first business trip.
"Where did..." I started before being interrupted by Karl picking up one of my feet and placing the shoe on it. So frazzled I was by his actions that I didn’t even manage to mount an objection as he traded feet and slid the other shoe on.
"Alright, now, off to the garden. Preferably before you explode from holding in all those questions"
The ’garden’ as he called it, was in fact the one in my window. Very much a real zen garden, with an unknown lighting source and a vaulted ceiling giving the impression of being outdoors.
"Forgive the bright lights, the garden lighting is set to London time for some reason" Karl began. "Now, what’s first? The house, the garden, the magic barrier around the property, or perhaps I will be your first question?"
I thought a moment about how to begin this conversation without getting derailed again. Glancing from Karl, still in his boots, but a fresh pair of jeans and tight black tshirt identical to the ones he had been wearing, but smelling freshly laundered, to the garden and back again. Finding myself intrigued by how the lighting contrasted with his dark hair and shirt to make his grey eyes seem to glow, I decided that he should be the starting point of our discussion.
"First tell me about yourself. Who are you, really? How do you know my Alpha and what is this strange sensation I keep getting when you’re around?
Sitting himself on one of the round stone benches that dotted the pathways and pulling me down to sit across from him, Karl began. "My name is Karl Luther. A Combat Mage and private security contractor."
I opened my mouth to demand he further elaborate on that bombshell of information, but he continued "I met your Alpha a few years back. He was at war with another Pack and hired my team to take care of the black witches that they had employed."
This was all a bit too much to take in at once. There were magic using humans? Had been before the portals started opening and humans from other worlds first arrived?
"Back up, you said Combat Mage. What exactly does that entail?"
"By your expression I’ll assume you know nothing of mages, as opposed to witches. While witches and druids work with nature, Mages have elemental affinities. Fire, earth, water and so on. Mine is Arcane, I specialize in barriers, physical enhancements, illusions, and creating simple objects, like I did with your shoes."
Well, that explained one mystery, and maybe created another.
"So was that feeling I got when we neared the house a barrier?"
"Yes, exactly" Karl nodded "It seems your body is sensitive to concentrated mana, so you will feel when someone around you is holding a lot of it, or when you come into contact with an active spell. With practice you should even be able to recognize the magician by the feeling of their spells. This is good news for me, as Lycans are usually resistant to magic. Your sensitivity will let me increase your combat capabilities without fear of the enhancement failing"
’Sensitive to concentrated mana, maybe from my human lineage?’, I thought. ’I hope this rogue never discovers that his mana feels like jolts of arousal or my life and dignity are done for’. What I said though, was "What sort of enhancements are we talking about?"
"Protective barriers, like the one you punched earlier. Or tripled speed and strength would be the basics" Karl responded in a dry tone, like he was teaching a lecture. "I can also disguise your features for infiltration, or simple narcissism if you prefer"
"That won’t be necessary" I huffed, the long day and lack of dinner dragging down my energy levels.
Karl noticed my flagging energy and slowly stood. "We will be working together for quite some time, we can discuss more whenever we need. How about we get some sleep?"
This was perhaps the greatest news I had heard all day. The flood of unexpected information was overwhelming, and nothing sounded better at the moment than a long nap in that huge soft bed.
Returning to my room, I was immediately alarmed by an unusual feeling. Was it a smell? Did something move? My senses were suddenly on full alert, before I realized what I felt was nothing, literally nothing. None of my scent lingered in the room, not even on my luggage. No scent from the shower I’d taken earlier either. It was then that I noticed the towels were back on the rack in the bathroom. Curious, I walked over to touch them and found them warm, dry and clean for use.
’Mage houses are bloody creepy’ I thought. ’If I’d known his place would be like this I’d have taken my chances at the government hotel. No, scratch that, no matter how creepy this self cleaning room was, or the underground garden, it was still worlds better than the assigned lodging with its bathroom cameras.