Law of Shadows

“Always choose your own fate. Otherwise I'll choose for you.”

- A memory of the Old Ones.

***Carinthia***

***Magnus***

“I told you to consider yourself as a widow.” I lean onto Sely as we step through the doorway. On the other side we are greeted by Oilell and Eva, the latter waiting anxiously for our return.

Eva flinches upon seeing me. “By the fake god! What happened to you!?”

“I just had a small confrontation with another Old One.” My attention wanders to the mirror near the staircase. “I don't get you people. The surface damage is already healed up... mostly. I look almost like a human being.”

Eva screeches, “It was worse!? What about the interview!? Its this evening! Will you be able to attend? How did your people decide?”

I draw in air and let out a long sigh. “Don't worry. You'll get your interview. Sadly, there was no consensus on genocide. Though we decided to defend our reputation. I just have to change into undamaged clothes.”

Eva raises an eyebrow and mumbles, “Which reputation?”

I ignore her and allow Sely to help me up the stairs. Of course I could've walked on my own, but it's simply wonderful to have a beautiful woman spoiling me. After the duel I felt as if a truck drove over me...

I already had the experience, so I know what I am talking about.

Luckily, there were no further incidents and Tina accompanied us back to my family's doorway. There, she said her goodbyes and promised that we would see each other again soon. Since we were already in Atlantis, it was faster for Tina to head to her own clan's doorway than to return with us.

Back in our quarters, I get cleaned up and decide on a new suit. Sely somehow managed to stay clean even though she was touching me. When I return out of the bath, she is in pristine condition. “Do women know some secret spell to stay clean?”

She tilts her head and smiles. “If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret any more. Can you walk on your own?”

I correct my suit and straighten myself. “I have to. We can't show any weakness in that first interview.”

“I guess not,” Sely answers and follows me out of the door. When I turn around, her entire expression warns me not to say even a single word. I guess she will be coming with me, whatever I say.

I head back down the staircase where Eva is still waiting for us. Oilell brought a tray with tea for everyone and is offering me some. “Try the yellow cup, Master. It's citron tea. I am trying new recipes.”

I reach for the indicated cup and take a sip. It's so bad that I've to gulp. “Too sour!”

Oilell smiles. “Really? Then I'll have to add a little less citron juice the next time. I am sorry, Master.”

I ponder over that statement for a while. Oilell never makes mistakes, or uses me to test out new recipes. Sely seems to be okay with her own cup. Somehow she realizes my dilemma and bends over, whispering, “I think you made the mistake of angering the cook. It's revenge for Oink.”

I sigh and drink the entire cup in one go. Then I smile at Oilell. “Don't worry. Everyone makes mistakes. You'll get better with time.” Brownies are fanatics for perfection. I am sure that it hurts Oilell far more to hand out bad tasting tea than anything I could ever do to her. And besides, I doubt that I could catch her.

Eva is the next on my list. “So, can you explain how you intend to do this?”

She nods. “It's nothing complicated! I know how you abhor complicated negotiations. As a start, we simply made an appointment with the local news channel. You'll talk about the various supernatural communities and how we are helping the city. Please don't fuck up!”

I glare at her, but Sely steps in. “That's why I am going with him.”

I have a sudden flashback of her almost murdering the secretary back at that facility. “I am not so sure-”

Sely crosses her arms under her chest, pushing it up. “But I am! I've had enough of you throwing yourself into danger. From now on, I won't let you out of my sight.”

That sounds tiring. I gesture for Eva to get going and she complies. “There is a lot going on in the world right now. The various governments are overwhelmed. One might say that this is our best chance to solve matters on a local level.”

I roll my eyes and walk to the doorway. There, I dial the code for my apartment. When I step through, I find Annia, Kath and Cecilia in front of my computer. Or should I say computers? My old, working desk was replaced with a much wider one. On top of it, three brand new machines were added to my rig.

Annia is at one of them, typing some code. Kath is playing slither.io at her machine and Cecilia took the big machine with three screens next to each other. There, she is simultaneously reading Wikipedia, watching a documentation on Youtube, and typing a new message in Facebook.

“I suppose the three of you are having fun?” I ask.

“Yes, evil man. Annia calls it a network party,” Kath replies without looking away from her game. Her eyes are stuck to the screen where her worm is about to encircle a much smaller one.

Annia waves us goodbye, but doesn't react otherwise.

Cecilia doesn't react at all. I suppose, with that large headset over her ears, she isn't even aware of me.

Sely follows me through the doorway and studies the scene, clearly harbouring doubt about such activities. “Are you sure that this is the right way to introduce Mom to the modern world?”

Annia looks at us with the corners of her mouth pulled down. “Mom tried to kill a waitress when she brought her coffee instead of tea. It's much safer to introduce her to modern customs this way. Luckily, she is adapting quite nicely to computers. I didn't expect that.”

Sely shakes her head. “Just make sure that you three don't turn into nerds. I've seen too many freaky documentaries about humans getting addicted to those machines.”

She sighs. “Yes, Mom.”

Sely grunts, “Don't call me Mom.”

“Yes, Mom.”

We head out of the apartment and Eva guides us to a black limousine with mirrored windows. I immediately change course and head for my SLK. Eva throws herself at me, hugging me around my waist. “Please, please, please! That limousine fits your image as this territory's ruler! Don't use that red SLK.”

I push her away, which is assisted by a low growl from Sely.

My girlfriend may not like other women touching me, but regarding the limousine she is definitely on Eva's side. Linking arms with me, she guides me back to the abomination of a car. “It's only this one evening.”

I shake my head. “No. Anything but that! Such cars are from the eighties!” I gesture at the parking area around us. “Choose any of these cars. There are over a hundred of them and they all belong to me.”

In the end I had to ride in a large, black Audi. I don't like the brand, but the two women left me no other choice. A few years ago, Audi was one of the top car manufacturers. Nowadays they have fallen victim to the same optimization process that destroyed many other companies. Goods are no longer manufactured with quality in mind. Maximized profit is the rule of the current century.

We arrive at our destination without incident. I get out of the car and lend Sely a hand. We find ourselves in front of the large office building which belongs to the local media group. Eva already knows the way and guides us inside, where she announces our arrival to a human secretary.

The secretary guides us further into the building, where we are greeted by a middle aged woman who has a hint of grey in her hair. She seems to be one of the humans who take their ageing process with dignity and don't try to hide their true age with cosmetics. I like that.

Despite her age, she shows us a perfect smile with dashing, white teeth. “Hi, I am Samantha. Eva told me that you two are going to be the spokespersons of the supernatural community?”

I smile. “We are. My name is Magnus Bathomeus and this is my wife, Sely.”

Samantha looks questioningly at Eva, but drops any questions she might have. “Please follow me to the studio. Normally I have a long discussion with everyone involved before I make live-interviews, but you two seem to be busy people. I've no other choice than to make it short.”

Sely nods and uses her chiming voice to reassure the woman. “We'll try our best to reduce any fears the human population might have.”

We enter a room with a large couch which circles around a small table. Various people are preparing equipment like cameras and microphones. I take the indicated seat and Sely sits down right next to me.

Samantha takes the seat opposite from us. “Forgive me, but you seem awfully young. Are you two vampires like Eva?”

I glance at the dark corner where Eva decided to hide during the interview. “No. She hasn't told you who we are?”

Samantha spreads her hands. “I am sorry. I was told almost nothing and I hate it. The supernatural community spoke to the local government and everything else happened in a rush. I practically got the order to interview you. It's either the biggest milestone in my career, or the end of the road.”

She tilts her head and squints her eyes at us. “Do I know you? You look so familiar.”

Sely nods. “Probably. We were all over the news when the fae discredited the other supernaturals. You might have seen recordings of us in the report about Old Ones.”

Samantha's smile disappears. “Great! It isn't just the end of the road. It's the last nail in my coffin.”

I clear my throat. “That's why we are here. To clear up some misunderstandings about the world you live in.”

Samantha touches her forehead. “It's not like I have any choice. So I'll have to improvise until the police recognizes you and storms this room.”

“They won't come,” I announce, still smiling.

Samantha furrows her forehead. “The army?”

I shake my head. “At least none who are stationed in this federal state.”

Samantha forces herself to smile and uses her hand to fan some air towards her face. “I am afraid that we are already a few seconds overdue. So we have to start the interview.” She looks at the people who are managing the equipment. “Ready?”

One of them nods and gives us a countdown.

The reporter turns her attention back to us and puts on a dashing smile. “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today we come to you with a special interview. We have two representatives of our local supernatural community right here in our studio! These are Magnus Bathomeus and his beautiful wife, Sely Bathomeus.”

She waits for a long moment before I realize that she wants me to say something. All I come up with is a pretty lame, “Good evening.”

Samantha nods. “We've heard a lot of bad things about supernaturals. Do you have anything to say to that?”

I sit up straighter. “I've seen a lot of the reports. All I can say, is that the fae are trying to influence humanity into starting a war against supernaturals. They are trying tip the balance in a cold war that has been going on for millennia.”

She nods. “Could you explain what this cold war is about?”

Sely leans back in her seat. “The fae are the mutated offspring between Old Ones and humans. Our ancestors tried to mingle with their distant cousins, but the children of such couples were either twisted, or diminished...” She continues with the official version and a detailed description of the fae's breeding habits. Then I explain the reasons behind the enmity between fae and other supernaturals.

Samantha stopped smiling during that last part. “They are using humans to breed?”

I shrug. “Mostly, but they prefer any supernatural over a human. That's why they are hoping to stir up a war. The resulting chaos would be their chance to gain power. A lot of people would suffer if they succeed.”

Turning, I address the camera directly. “The smartest thing to do, would be to go on with our daily lives. We supernaturals have managed ourselves since the dawn of time. I understand that by now it's impossible to ignore our existence completely. Nonetheless, it's important for humanity not to tip the balance. The only ones who would suffer would be you.”

Samantha clears her throat. “Yes. About that. A lot of people would say that humanity is already suffering because of supernaturals. There is a video of you yourself, killing innocent people at their working places.”

I turn back to Samantha. “Yes, that video was taken when I stopped illegal research on supernaturals. I killed eighty-seven people on that day.”

Samantha's left eye twitches. “Why?”

“Because they tried to crossbreed humans with Old Ones. I find it highly likely that the facility was sponsored by the fae. Such experiments already brought us to the current situation. We Old Ones have a strict law against such research. I allowed everyone who was uninvolved to get away, but all the others were killed on the spot. I don't allow such practices in my territory.”

The reporter raises her eyebrow. “Your territory?”

I sigh. Just why did Eva send me into this without explaining anything to these imbeciles? “Yes. My family has been ruling this region for several thousand years. You could call me the ruler of the supernaturals in this region. When they have a problem, they come to me. Additionally, I own most of the big companies under various, different identities, and a large portion of the land is legally mine. Three quarters of this state’s private money belong to me.”

“Hahaha... it's hard to believe that a single person has that much. And several thousand years?”

I shrug. “You are still making the mistake of thinking of me as a human. But now that I don't have to hide, I'll hire an army of lawyers to correct all my misleading identities. They'll organize all my belongings. Keeping so many fake identities alive is a real bother. In a way, I am glad that the fae broke the status quo.”

Samantha's expression turns disturbed. “But if that's true, then what about the humans?”

Sely makes a dismissive gesture. “Don't worry. Nothing will change for you. It's not like we would suddenly treat you as if you are cattle. That's a fate that the fae have in store for you.”

I nod. “Yes. I won't lie to you. To us you are more like bees. We Old Ones profit from keeping your culture alive. We are similar enough to find amusement in your toys. If we didn't protect you, we wouldn't have all the comforts of modern society. We are much too individualistic to produce something as fancy as a car or a computer.”

Samantha's voice turns a little shaky. “So to the fae we are useless breeding machines, and you Old Ones keep us alive because we produce all the comfortable gimmicks which you like?”

I nod again. “Yes. And we even protect you from the more rowdy supernats. I myself reassigned the Krampus as the local police force. Nowadays, they don't steal any children. I've a few human acquaintances and they all voiced their discomfort at the thought, so I abolished the tradition.”

“The Krampus is real!? And they took over the police force?”

“I think she didn't know that,” Sely mumbles.

I sigh. “I've a feeling this will be a really long interview. I want to go home.”