Law of Shadows

“As the Veils not only restrict the Old Ones, but also represent their territory and affect the supernaturals who live there, they are influencing the mundane world. A war that’s fought among humans is often nothing more than a direct result of the unrest within the supernatural world.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Sely***

I shift in my seat. There is no way that I can endure the silence any longer. We drove for about ten minutes and nobody said a word. “So? If your name isn’t Siegfried, then how should we call you?”

He grunts and flips the blinker to take a narrow side-street. “My real name is of no concern to you.”

Annia pulls another sheet of paper from her backpack. “The Bathomeus clan, which presided over this territory, was split in two family groups. A hundred years ago they were extremely powerful because of their numbers. From his looks I would guess that he is either Regan Bathomeus or a cousin, Magnus Bathomeus. Though the information is very old, so I could be wrong. It was uploaded via the Arpanet in the nineteen-eighties.”

I purse my lips. “I guess we’ll simply call him Regan.”

The Old One in front of us hisses and turns around to claw the paper from Annia’s hands. “Who put all of this information on the net? I didn’t do it!”

“There was also a marriage contract for any female Old One who is interested in her own territory.” Annia pulls out another paper and hands it to me. “Do you never check the internet? It’s the best platform for supernaturals from different territories to interact with each other. Of course only if you know the right passwords and codes.”

“Why would I do that? I have no interest in making my territory’s status known!” He answers, visibly disturbed.

I reach for the door-handle as the car sways dangerously to the left. “Regan, please watch the street! I don’t want to get hurt.”

“My name is Magnus!” He drops the paper and takes the wheel with both hands, his knuckles white.

“Okay, Magnus then. How about becoming acquainted with each other? We are going to share a territory after all. Would you like to explain what happened to the rest of your clan?” I offer, a little less stressed.

His eyes flash red, telling me that I am walking on thin ice. “I am not sharing my territory. You two are being tolerated for the moment. And what happened to my family is none of your concern.” He stops the car in front of a large apartment complex and gets outside.

I hurry to follow him, as he doesn’t wait and walks directly to the entrance to hold open the door for us. Annia turns back to the car as we enter the large building. “Isn’t it bad to have a stolen car directly in front of your home?”

He snorts and closes the door. “Don’t worry. It’ll be taken care of.”

Then Magnus walks up to the elevator and pushes a button. My confusion grows as we wait for the door to open. “Don’t you have some kind of estate? You weren’t joking when you said that you live in an apartment? Alone?”

The Hammon estate is big. We have a real mansion with dozens of supernatural servants. Our fingers are in every business which involves big money, something that comes with having a lot of time, being effectively immortal. Maybe I should forget about thinking of the Hammon clan as mine. Annia and I ran away. The whole point of our escape was to get away from their influence.

“Exactly. I don’t need all that stuff.” The door opens and we step inside.

After exiting the elevator, Magnus guides us to a door and gestures to get inside. I enter a small apartment which is living room and kitchen in one. An extra large working table with a high-end computer and three screens takes up the left side of the room. I check out the three doors which allow access to a bathroom and a sleeping room with a single, large bed. The third door allows access to a walk-in closet. But there is something… I can’t help it. The room feels somehow… off.

Is this really a single man’s room? Everything is so neatly arranged.

I immediately notice the dreamcatcher with the vial of blood next to it. It is hanging in front of the couch, right in the middle of the room. So he didn’t even care to clean up after jerking off to me. I head directly to the artefact and grab it.

“Hey!”

My expression must have been horrifying, because he says nothing as I clean out the vial at the kitchen’s basin and wash the dreamcatcher. Having done so, I feel a large weight lifting from me. Smiling, I look up and study the room a second time. “Who would have thought that the lord of this territory is a genuine low-life and a NEET.”

Annia shrugs. “For a single man’s room it looks more than decent. I expected something like a cave. Where did you expect us to sleep?”

He gestures at the sofa. “You can sleep here tonight. It can be rearranged to a bed. Tomorrow I am going to find you a room in this house.”

So he isn’t offering us the bed. I raise an eyebrow. “The building doesn’t belong to you? How are you going to convince the inhabitants to vacate their rooms?”

“There are ways,” He answers and leaves it at that.

Yeah, a genuine low-life. My respect for him is falling with each detail he reveals about his personal life.

That’s when the door to the walk-in closet, the same which I checked earlier, opens and a small woman with golden skin enters the room. She isn’t a hobbit or a dwarf, since her body is perfectly proportioned. She is just really small and only reaches my chest at most. I gasp when I recognise her race. “A Brownie! I thought they died out long ago!”

The woman blinks, taking in the room. Then she squeals in joy and drops the freshly washed clothes in her hands. One moment she is just standing there, then she is suddenly in front of me, touching me as if to reassure herself that I am real. “Master! You did it! Finally more people to care for. Is she your new mate? No forget about that, you even brought two!” Using her inhuman speed, she dashes over to Annia and grabs her hand, patting it.

Magnus groans. “Oilell, what are you doing here!? Didn’t we agree that you only show up on weekends. No, forget about that. Do you know something about a marriage request for me, made in the eighties?”

“Yeah, I am surprised that someone answered it that fast.” The brownie clearly has a different take on time. She reaches up and parts Annia’s lips, checking her teeth. Annia slaps at her, but the legendary creature is gone in the same moment, so my sister slaps empty air instead.

Appearing in front of Magnus, the brownie inspects the sheet of paper which he got from Annia. “Certainly, Master. I need someone to take care of. Since you are the only remaining member of the family, I thought that new blood is needed to repopulate.”

Magnus reaches for the brownie, but she evades him with the same ease as she did with Annia. “Little pest! Come here!”

The brownie reappears in front of me. “I totally forgot to introduce myself! What a blunder. I am Oilell, faithful servant of the Bathomeus family since,” she wriggles her fingers, counting, “Four-hundred and seventy-eight generations! Hopefully soon to be four-hundred and seventy-nine.”

I clear my throat. “It’s nice meeting you, Oilell. I am Sely and that’s my sister Annia.”

Oilell claps her hands together. “Thought so. If you need anything, just say so and I’ll provide it.”

Magnus waves his hand. “Don’t bother, Oilell. They are just going crash on the sofa for the night and then I’ll find suitable accommodations for them.”

Oilell actually manages to look destroyed. “They aren’t going to stay? But they have to! And you can’t let them sleep on the sofa!” Her eyes fall on the vial which I washed. “And you had them work when I am around!? Nonono.” Suddenly she is all over me with a towel, drying my hands with surprising strength.

I don’t know what to say. Brownies are supposed to be extinct since they completely disappeared for an unknown reason a few hundred years ago. I am not old enough to ever have met one. All I know is hearsay. They are magical beings like us. Their special magic allows them to bind themselves to a house and in extreme cases even to a bloodline as a housekeeper or servant. And they have a mania for order, that’s why they can’t stand unclean places. “It’s fine Oilell…”

“No it’s not! We are a decent clan with manners. The young master just made a joke when he said that you have to sleep on the sofa.” She pulls me towards the closet.

Annia furrows her forehead. “We are supposed to sleep with you in the closet?”

The brownie laughs. “Of course not! It works like this.” She takes the handle of the door to the closet and turns it left, like it’s supposed to be done. “See? Closet.” I confirm it and she closes the door and opens it again, turning the handle to the right.

I feel the pull of magic as the spacial spell warps space. Instead of the closet, there is a huge entrance hall. The corner of my left eye twitches involuntarily as I follow the brownie into a luxurious mansion. A look out of the windows reveals a garden scenery in the middle of spring. “Where are we? Isn’t it supposed to be winter?”

The brownie huffs. “It’s the Bathomeus family mansion, located in a reality marble at the bottom of the lake which is right next to the city. Please feel free to take any room you like and explore as you wish.”

Annia follows me, gaping at the entrance room. If that’s supposed to be an indicator for the mansion’s size, then we just entered a castle.

Magnus steps through the door, a grumpy expression on his face. “I don’t like this place. It’s so big and… empty.”

Oilell huffs and pulls me forward. “Just because Master likes it to live in the storeroom doesn’t mean that others have to like it too.”