"He's a friend?" I wasn't sure what he was showing me this for. I had never noticed the guy around.
"He used to be." His voice was muffled.
"What happened?"
He released a harsh breath, and then he answered.
"He was killed." His voice was quiet. but it sounded like a touch of anger may have lingered in the background.
"Oh. I'm sorry." I was a little startled by the sudden and unexpected revelation. I was also confused by it.
"Don't be. I killed him."
His eyes deepened with pain and bottled rage. I just sat very still, waiting on him to continue. I had no clue what to say or where he was going with this conversation. I could feel my eyes wild with surprise. It all seemed so out of leftfield.
Finally, he took a breath and continued in his hushed, anger-laced, painful telling. "We once had a family of bodyguards that lived with us. The Brussels were our best friends. I grew up with Jameson, the oldest son. We did everything together. Thomas, his father, was my dad's best friend. His wife, Adella, was like a sister to my mother.
"Alice was their daughter. She stayed quiet and never really socialized with us. The rest of us were all like a big family.
"There was a big changer meeting coming up. They wanted everyone with changer blood to come in for a family of newcomers. A changer can see another changer's aura, essentially meaning we can sense if each other is good or bad. It's wise to have plenty of backup when making introductions, just in case.
"While we are away for the meeting, my dad left Thomas in charge of taking care of my mom. Adella was there as well. A few other witches that my mother had saved in the past came over as added protection.
"Alice sent a messenger saying I needed to come home right away. I had no idea what that meant. I raced home with Ayla and Desmond. My dad wasn't far behind once he heard of our abrupt and unannounced departure. I was worried something had happened to Mom, or that the house had been attacked during our absence.
"When I got home, I smelled the danger and fear. I raced toward the house. Alice was on the front porch. The closer I got, the more aware I became she wasn't responsive to my presence. I saw her body was lifeless and pale. She was dead.
"I stumbled back as Ayla came running up. I heard something from the backyard. We took off to find out what was going on.
"My mother is an enforcer - a very powerful weapon. However, she rarely used her power because it was the same power her father had possessed. She often worried that the power was too much for her to control. As a consequence for her not using her power, it was not strong enough to have an effect on the stronger guards.
"Thomas stood over her, forcing her into the lake that we lived close to at the time. Mom is strong physically, but Thomas was the strongest bodyguard I've ever known of. She tried casting, but it was mostly ineffective against him, due to his strong immunity."
I hated to interrupt, but there was a lot that I didn't understand yet. He kept forgetting how new I was to all of this. "What is casting?"
"Spell casting. Casting takes a lot of magic and a lot of focus. Small spells are easy enough - changing your face and stuff - but spells to inflict harm or give protection are not so easy. Casting is only practiced by very select families. Few families can do it."
"Will I be able to?" I couldn't help but ask.
"Yes. Your family is very powerful at casting." He glanced at me as a grimace crossed his face while thinking of the next part of his story.
"I'm sorry. Please go on."
He took a deep breath before continuing his story. "I watched as my mother was gasping for air, on the verge of death. That was the first time I was able to use my power the way I wanted to.
"I used every bit of my strength and watched as he flew backwards. He came at me, and Desmond attacked him in the form of a panther, one of his stronger forms. Thomas was then joined by Adella and Jameson. Adella leapt at Ayla as she approached.
"Ayla did something she had never intended to do; something she didn't even know she could do. It was something so powerful that it bypassed the immunity of a bodyguard. Something that forever destroyed Adella's mind, though her body was still alive."
Tallis stopped the story when he noticed I was confused. "I thought her gift was serenity. That seems like the opposite of serenity."
He took another deep breath before continuing. "It is the opposite, but only because she can't control it. Ayla has a second gift to her serenity. She can pull an emotion from your body; however, it's too powerful for her to control as a gift. She can use it as a weapon though.
"She can't control what she pulls out or how much she pulls out. She nearly ruined the mind of a witch while trying to pull pain from her mind after she was struck by a healer. A healer can't heal the wounds inflicted by another healer for several days, sometimes weeks. The girl was in excruciating pain. Ayla tried to isolate her withdrawal to only pain. Her attempts failed and the girl became catatonic. She finally came to, after a year of strenuous casting.
; "Ayla was lost as she stared at the horrific thing she had done to Adella, unable to feel anything but peace because of her power, but knowing she should feel something else. She couldn't feel the emotion that she needed to cry or be mad. It had distracted me for a moment, but I ran to pull my mother out of the water.