I returned to my apartment in somewhat of a daze, but was pulled out when I saw I got a text message from my cousin.
Virginia: Elizabeth, you’ve been in town for a couple of weeks now and still haven’t come by for dinner. When are you free?
Virginia was one of the reasons I’d selected Avenglade as my place of retirement. She was really my only family left, her and her family, even though I’d never met her kids and hadn’t seen her in at least a couple of decades. When we were very little, I remembered she was one of the few people to at least try to understand me, so I thought the move would give me the opportunity to reconnect with her – and if it didn’t work out, well, at least Avenglade was a nice enough place to stay.
A new friend and a possible reconnection with my cousin. Avenglade might have actually been an incredibly lucky choice to make.
Me: I am available most evenings. When would be a good time for you?
Virginia: So formal. We’re family, don’t worry so much. But what about tonight? Are you free at 6?
Me: I can be there.
There was a pause, and I wondered if my stilted responses were making her second-guess her choice to invite me.
I couldn’t say I wasn’t nervous at the idea of seeing her again and meeting her family. It’d probably be the same thing as usual – them thinking I was cold and uninterested when really I just…couldn’t express what I was feeling. I didn’t know if Virginia remembered enough from when we were kids to understand what my problem was, but I hoped she’d still be the same person I remembered from back then in at least trying.
Virginia: Great! You have my address, right? She sent it again anyway, for good measure.
Virginia: If you want to come early, I won’t be back yet but the kids should be home. You could get to know them a bit if you want.
She had two kids, if I remembered correctly, a boy and a girl. I wasn’t sure how old they were, but they should be at least teenagers.
Virginia: Oh, and…Jay doesn’t know, so…be discrete.
Doesn’t know? Doesn’t know what? That I was coming for dinner? That wouldn’t make sense.
I quickly ran through possible things in my head that she could be concerned about. What would I know that her husband wouldn’t that she wouldn’t want me to tell him? It wasn’t like we had done anything scandalous as children or –
Oh. He didn’t know she was a supernatural. That was…unexpected. They’d been together for at least, what, two decades? They had two kids, even. And she had never told him?
Me: Okay.
I wanted to ask her why, but that didn’t seem to be a conversation to have over text plus I wasn’t sure it was my place to ask. At least I could make sure to uphold my end of the deal, even if I didn’t understand the reason for it.
As it turned out, her concern was unwarranted – her husband ended up having to stay late at work so it was just me, Virginia, and her kids.
“This is my son, Devon,” she introduced us, “and my daughter, Maggie. Kids, this is my cousin, Elizabeth.”
Virginia, like me, was a familiar, and Devon was a familiar, too, but Maggie was human. She had a protection mark on the side of her neck, however, which told me she most likely did know about supernaturals, even if Jay didn’t.
Curious, but information to be filed away for later. Tonight was just about trying not to make the worst impression possible, and asking about potentially charged issues was probably not the best way to go about it.
“So I haven’t seen you in ages,” Virginia said as we sat down at the table to eat, “I think last time was your high school graduation? What have you been up to since then?”
“Espionage.”
Maggie dropped her fork and stared at me, while Devon looked like he wanted to think I’d just made a joke but wasn’t sure and Virginia just looked confused.
“Wait, what?”
“I worked for the government. As a spy. I’m retired now and decided to come here.” I’d made up my mind before arriving that I would tell Virginia the truth about my former work. She was family, and if I wanted to potentially have a future relationship with her, that wasn’t something I could hide. It was too much a part of who I was.
Maggie and Devon were both openly gawking at me now.
Virginia looked concerned. “Is that – I mean, that would be dangerous, right? Any potential concerns that you’d bring work back with you?”
Ah. She wanted to know if it was safe for me to be around her and her family. “I didn’t work in emotionally charged cases,” I answered calmly, “and my marks rarely even knew I existed. I have no reason to believe anyone from my work knows who I am or where I am and even if they did, that they’d bother to come after me. If you are concerned about your safety and that of your family, we do not need to associate. I have no wish to bring you fear.”
This was the longest bit I’d said since I arrived, and Virginia seemed puzzled listening to me, like she thought she was missing a frequency or something.
I was, in a sense.
Meanwhile, Maggie seemed to have gotten over her shock. “So you were a spy? Any cool stories? Is it like the movies?” Her eyes were wide with enthusiasm. “Did you kill people?”
I went through her questions quickly in my head to try to decide if they were acceptable to answer. “Yes, yes, not really, yes.”
“So tell us one!” She demanded impatiently.
A story, hmm? Something they would find interesting but not be freaked out about. I wasn’t good with stories, I often missed the punchline and the emotional impact, so this would be about as exciting as reading a history book of genealogies, but she’d asked, so…it wasn’t like I had much of a choice.
“Several years ago, I was in a town to retrieve some information. Someone else had already obtained it, my only job was essentially to pass them at a party, accept the handoff, and leave. No direct interaction, little fuss.
“The information was on a flash drive, small and easy to deliver. Everything initially went well, we both showed up, were playing our parts, all we needed was a single moment to pass each other.” I was working as a server, easier to move through the crowd and easier with my general role in these situations – being invisible. “Then someone spilled a drink, my contact slipped and fell, and the flash drive fell out of their pocket and slid across the floor.”
I’d had a split second of fear, worrying that someone would notice or would step on it and destroy it, but thankfully it had slid past the feet of the party-goers, straight to the edge of the room. “The host of the party had several dogs, all very similar, all convinced that anything which dropped on the floor was for them. Naturally, they gulped down the flash drive without realizing it wasn’t even food. I was fairly certain I knew which one ate it, but I had to keep an eye on it, try to catch it, kidnap it, and then keep it somewhere safe while we waited for the drive to be, um, recovered, all while not letting the host realize that one of his dogs was missing.”
That part had been a bit like a movie – but a slapstick comedy. Trying to look like I was serving, while keeping an eye on my canine mark, attempting to bribe it into following me, chasing it across the lawn at one point – it had not been my night, that was for sure. The only thing which did end up going according to the adjusted plan was at least I got the right dog.
“So did you get it back?” Maggie asked, apparently deeply invested. “The flash drive?”
“We did, and safely returned the dog. The host was none the wiser.”
“Wow.” Devon shook his head, but he was grinning. “That sounds nuts. I suppose you have to be quick on your feet to come up with a way to resolve the situation – it’s not like you could have planned for that.”
“Why couldn’t he have just burned a new drive?” Maggie asked.
I had finished my food and set my fork down. “This particular information came from a secure location that my contact couldn’t access again easily. Obtaining another copy would have been…difficult. He didn’t keep a backup of the information for his own protection.”
Virginia had listened to my story along with the kids, but I got the impression she really wanted to change the subject away from my career to something less…dangerous.
“So you’ve retired,” she gave me a tense smile, “what are you doing now?”
“Currently learning new hobbies, starting with cooking. I never had much time to learn more than basics before.”
A silence fell over the table. Virginia played with the food on her plate and tried again. “So did you go to college? I never really heard much from you after high school, though I guess that’s, um – anyway, what about your personal life? Anyone special?”
I was fairly certain this wasn’t going well as far as Virginia was concerned. Partly because she didn’t care for my career choice, and partly because she didn’t understand me. The kids seemed less bothered, but maybe that’s because they were still young enough to think that spy = cool and not about the dangerous aspects of my past.
“I did. I studied linguistics. I can speak nine languages fluently and am fairly tolerable in another 12.” This earned some more stares, which probably would have made me blush if I could. These kids were so easily impressed. “And no, I do not.”
“Nine?” Devon asked, flabbergasted. “Like…21 languages overall? No wonder you were hired for your job! That seems incredibly useful.”
And we were back on the topic Virginia didn’t seem to want us to be on.
But seeing the curiosity in Devon’s and Maggie’s eyes, it was hard to just stop talking about it unless Virginia actually forbade it.
“There were other aspects which made me desirable to my employers,” I admitted in my dry, even tone. “I have extensive knowledge in – ” I stopped, looking at Maggie, then at Virginia, waiting for confirmation. She was protected, true, but there was a possibility she didn’t actually know and was protected secretly.
Virginia’s brows furrowed as she tried to figure out what I wanted and Maggie looked confused and impatient.
But Devon apparently figured out my question. “Maggie knows, you can talk.”
I nodded once. “I have extensive knowledge in supernatural species and history,” I continued as if that interruption hadn’t happened, “which turned out useful for certain circumstances.”
“You’re a familiar, too? Like Mom and Devon?” Maggie asked eagerly. “What kind?”
“Snow leopard.” I caught the way her excitement flared even more.
“Maggie loves large cats,” Devon explained, rolling his eyes a bit, but he was smiling at his younger sister. “She found out because I tried to transform for her and misjudged how long I could hold the transformation. I’m a lynx,” he added.
Virginia was an ocelot, so feline for Devon made sense, too. Unless crossed with another familiar type, our family would likely continue to have feline familiars of some variety.
“I met a snow leopard shifter once,” I stated matter-of-factly. He had been…very enamored of the idea of us being together, a combination of the physical embodiment of the snow leopard and the magical powers of one. He could not understand my lack of enthusiasm, but truth was, I was actually intrigued – he just couldn’t see it. That had warned me the relationship might be doomed from the start, but I had been willing to attempt it anyway, but not even three days into it he had given up on the idea, telling me I was just as cold as the actual ice and snow I used.
“And?” Maggie prompted. “What about them?”
Right, there was a point to this. “If you like large cats, since you can’t interact with the wild animal versions, maybe you can talk a cat shifter into letting you see their shifted form. They’d at least be safer to be around.”
Maggie made a face. “I mean, I would, but I don’t know any shifters and don’t know how to go around identifying supernaturals. I’m paying better attention now that I know, but I just – I don’t know how to meet one and befriend them?”
“Maggie,” her mother interrupted, “you don’t need to worry about that. There’s no need to go deliberately hunting for a cat shifter – which, while not as dangerous as the wild animal versions, is still dangerous. Predator shifters have a harder time controlling themselves.” She gave me a slightly angry look.
“I’ve known quite a few predator shifters over the years,” worked with a number, actually, “and I have found that they’re rarely actually in danger of losing themselves. It’s an urge, yes, that isn’t there for prey-type shifters, an urge to hunt and kill, but it is no more an overwhelming urge for them than the urge we have to respond to catnip. It’s enticing, but completely resistible unless your defenses are extremely low.”
Virginia did not look happy that I had contradicted her, but she also didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“Yeah,” Devon refilled his glass, offering me a refill as he did, which I declined. “I mean, I hang out with a lot more dangerous people all the time.”
Virginia frowned again. “You’re a little different here.”
“Am I? Just because I’m a familiar?” He crossed his arms, giving his mother a challenging look. “Maggie’s protected, she wouldn’t be in any real danger if she did make supernatural friends. Actually, if she had supernatural friends around her, she’d be in less danger because she’d have people there with her during the day instead of just in the mornings and evenings like you and me!”
This apparently was an old argument, judging by the looks on their faces. I hadn’t meant to start them arguing with each other, but this was definitely not going to help get Virginia to want to be friends again.
Well…even if reuniting with my cousin didn’t work out, at least I still had Sorrel’s friendship. That was something to be cheerful about.
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