Chapter Ten

“It’s been four months and there’s still nothing?”

Impatience colored my tone despite my best attempts to stifle it. While I didn’t mind the extra time I got to spend with Dimitrius, every day that passed was another that who knows how many children were taken. I hated doing nothing.

I’d gotten a hold of Seraphina a week after my initial call, but as expected she didn’t have any Frenwere. Which left us with the witch as our only source of information and despite the many things we’d done to pry information out of her, the woman held strong.

If it weren’t holding us back now I’d have been impressed with her fortitude. A venomous voice chipped in from the back of my mind. Apparently she makes up in loyalty what she failed in power.

As it stood though, it was an unfortunate obstacle and Dimitrius’s people hadn’t found any other leads for us to follow. Which left us where we were now, waiting for something to break loose.

Dimitrius eyed me with open amusement though it was tinted with aggravation that mirrored my own. “There is no use in becoming agitated, we must be patient. We will have news soon and then we can see what there is to find.”

Biting back the urge to growl that this was the most patient I’d been in centuries, I rubbed a hand over my face and teased. “I’m nearly four hundred years old babe, this is as patient as I’ll ever be.”

His brow ticked up to that. “Four hundred? I assumed you were younger due to your speech.”

Amusement twitched my lips up as I shook my head. “I realized early on that talking like you’re from centuries ago attracts more suspicion than it’s worth. Sometimes I slip back into how I used to talk, but for the most part, I’ve adapted to modern slang well.”

In that regard, we were opposites since he refused to even use contractions. He hummed, acknowledging my point, before I prodded. “And since we’re on the topic of age, how old are you? By how you talk I’d assume at least eight hundred, but I don’t want to insult you.”

He smiled, a small and amused thing, his head tipping in a half shrug. “No offense taken. In this case, your guess of eight hundred would be considered a compliment, considering I am well over fourteen hundred years old.”

I choked, I’ll admit. I’d known he was old, but shit I hadn’t thought he was that old! Composing myself the best I could, I recovered with a joke. “Well, you look good for your age!”

His lips twitched again, amusement warming his eyes before he pulled us back to the original topic. “Thank you, but as for your patience, you will just have to, as they say, ‘deal with it’. The statement you cannot teach an old dog new tricks is false, as I am still learning many things and I am nearly quadruple your age.”

Bobbing my head to acknowledge the point, I sighed. “I know, but it burns to think of what those kids could be going through right now. I wish we could just skip to the part where you save the day, possibly while carrying a child out of a building while I stand to the side and…I don’t know. Swoon?”

He chuckled, shaking his head as he leveled a dubious smile my way. “You have quite an active imagination, but there is a problem with your scenario.” He paused, letting me sit in suspense for a minute before he continued. “You, my dear, do not swoon.”

Oh I’d come close a few times around him. Not that he’d know that. I’d done my best to make it so he stayed in the dark about my new infatuation with him and so far I seemed to be succeeding. Impressive since we’d spent nearly all day with each other over the past four months.

Despite that, I couldn’t help but tease. “Oh, I don’t know. With the right motivation, I think I could for you.”

Something palpable pulsed between us, thickening in the air. Surprise sharpened his gaze, curiosity nudging to the surface as silence stretched. When he didn’t respond with a snappy comeback, instead boring that soulful gaze into me, I changed the subject back to the original topic.

“But back to the point, if it takes much longer we’d be better off turning ourselves into children and getting captured-.” I stopped, the brilliance of the thought hitting all at once. I hadn’t actually meant it, but now that the idea was there, it was too tempting not to contemplate.

Before I could consider how to go about doing that, Dimitrius shook his head. “They will not take you. Whoever is behind this only wants those of my blood.”

Damn, hadn’t considered that. Surely there was a way around it though…

After a minute, it hit. “Then throw your aura over both of us. Sitting around doing nothing will drive me insane and at least this way we can say we tried.”

He paused, head tilting in consideration, before he grimaced. “There is no guarantee you will be immune to that.”

Unease dripped from his tone and honestly, I couldn’t blame him. We didn’t know each other that well and if our positions were reversed, I wouldn’t have been totally comfy with it either. Despite that, impatience bubbled hot in my chest.

This was the closest we’d come to a plan in what felt like centuries, we couldn’t just not try it!

Biting my lip, I swept a long glance over Dimitrius and offered. “We could test it? Throw a small bit of your aura over me and see what happens. If you want, you could even have one of your guards come in to restrain me.”

The thought of restraints–the non sexy kind–made my hair stand on end, but if that’s what it took to make him okay with this…

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Thankfully he shook his head after a minute of thought. His face settled into a mask of determination, the flash of uncertainty there and gone before I could comment on it. “As you say then, though guards will not be necessary. Are you ready?”

Starting at my shoulders, I loosened every muscle moving down until the last of my tension eased out. Once done, I nodded. “Ready.”

At first nothing changed. No swell of power or odd warmth came, but just as I went to confirm that it had no effect on me, it started.

The lightest strokes slid down my spine, tingles moving out in waves from the skin until my entire back buzzed pleasantly. Slowly, it wrapped around the rest of me, completely encasing me until it was as if I were swimming in a heated pool.

Fog clouded my mind, thoughts coming slower with every beat of my heart until it was all I could do to not fall asleep on my feet. Soaking it in, I dimly heard Dimitrius’s noise of surprise, but all my focus stayed on this feeling.

*** Dimitrius ***

Lavender eyes slid shut, hiding Julian’s hazy gaze from view as I took in the picture of complete relaxation with wonder.

Never before in my many years had I seen anyone react like this to my power. Julian was not falling into a lust haze, I had seen enough people in such a state to know the signs. She showed none of them, but she was obviously affected.

Just not in a way I had ever seen before.

After a few minutes, I coiled my power back, watching intently as Julian blinked tired eyes open again. She shook off the effects, coming back to herself with relative quickness.

This woman became more and more fascinating the longer I knew her…

*** Julian ***

Like molasses easing off my mind, the warm haze slipped away until I could think again. Taking a deep breath, I shook the last of the cobwebs away. Well, that was definitely something.

“No lust craze.” I said, watching Dimitrius’s nod. A hint of something I couldn’t name hovered on the edge of his expression, but before I could analyze it, it was gone.

“So it appears. I agree to your plan, though there is a flaw. What will we use to change ourselves into children? My metamorphic capabilities are only minor changes, certainly nothing like what we need, so I will require aid as well.”

Thankfully I had an easy answer to that. “A potion. I’m an Auxilio mage, not a Mutante one, after all. I should even have the ingredients for that on me.” I trailed off, reaching into my infinity bag. Pressing into the various things I put in there for safekeeping, I made a noise of frustration.

“Where’d I put the stupid thing?” I grumbled, shoving my entire shoulder into it, smiling in triumph when the familiar plants grazed my fingers. Pulling it out, I nodded. “Ah-ha! Knew you were in there.”

Turning to Dimitrius, I offered it. “With this, we can finally move forward.”

His eyes trailed to my bag curiously. “Just how deep is that?”

In answer, I opened the top and offered it to him. “Stick your arm in and see for yourself.”

With no hesitation, he did. A befuddled expression twisted his face as he pressed his arm all the way to his shoulder and it didn’t reach the bottom. Once he pulled it back out, I spoke.

“It’s called an infinity bag. As you can probably guess by the name, the amount of space can be infinite. Basically, there’s a pocket dimension in here for me to use as storage. I paid someone to enchant it for me so I wouldn’t have to take trips to my house so often.”

And it’d saved me hundreds of such trips, more than making it worth the money I’d given him.

Dimitrius nodded, curiosity plain even as he focused back on the task at hand. “Excellent, once you have the potion prepared we will begin. Though, if I may aid you?”

Hope sparked in his eyes, the hunger for more knowledge making me smile even as I shook my head. “I don’t mind if you stay and watch, but this isn’t a beginner’s potion. Maybe later I’ll see if I can find some of the basic ones for you to try.”

His features brightened, following me as I moved into my room. Setting down the bag, I dug through it until I found my tools, the cauldron–outdated, but these things were impossible to break, making them perfect for my needs–and the enchanted spoons that went with it. Putting it on the desk, I pulled out the rest of the ingredients I needed.

Thankfully it was a simple potion so no rare things were needed. If we’d been shifting into other people then it would have been harder. I’d be happy with the blessing I was given. In less than fifteen minutes the potion was ready, the putrid scent coming off it announcing that.

Dimitrius wrinkled his nose, eyeing the swirling green liquid warily as if it would bite him. “Are you absolutely certain that is safe?”

Ladling some into a glass, I nodded, but before I could take a drink to prove it his hand covered mine, the back of his knuckles brushing my lips.

Concern painted his features, distracting me from the skin all but humming with power under my mouth. “Then let me try it first. Should something be wrong I have supernatural healing to fall back on. You do not.”

He didn’t even know what all he was drinking, but at the thought of it hurting me he tried to make himself into a shield. In this case it wasn’t necessary, I’d brewed this potion plenty of times, but the sentiment was there.

Forcing back the fluttery feelings his care and the brief skin to skin contact brought, I nodded, handing over the ladle without complaint. “Alright, but you have to imagine what you’ll be turning into. Get a clear picture in your head and then drink. The potion will do the rest.”

He nodded, closing his eyes for a moment before taking the potion and downing it in one go. Immediately he gagged, eyes flying open as he coughed. One of his hands drifted to his stomach and he groaned. “Maker above, is it supposed to taste like excrements and poignant regrets?”

I snorted. “Yup, that means it worked. Why exactly do you know what those taste like though?”

He shot me a mild glare, but instead of commenting on my sass, he questioned. “Why have I not changed?”

I waved aside his concern. “Calm down, you should start any-.” Before I even finished the sentence, he began to shrink. He bent double with a grunt, clutching his stomach as he braced through it.

Hardly thirty seconds went by before the transformation was done and when he straightened, I fought back a coo.

The clothes that’d previously fit perfectly swamped him. I was horrible at estimating age, but if I had to guess he’d be around five years old. His facial hair was gone, replaced with chubby cheeks and curly golden hair. His eyes also seemed wider and I couldn’t help but crouch to his level and tease.

“You were cute as a kid, are you sure you want to change back after we’re done?”

Immediately he leveled a glare on me that would have been menacing, if his cheeks didn’t puff out in indignation. “This is no joking matter. Drink so we may be on our way.”

The higher pitch voice nearly sent me into hysterics, but I swallowed back the decidedly witchy cackle and nodded. I’d definitely be remembering this anytime I needed a laugh though.

Refocusing on the task at hand, I ladled my glassful and downed it while doing my best to not taste a drop. In seconds, the familiar wrenching of atoms came, pain ripping through every inch of my body as it rearranged to fit my whim.

Closing my eyes through the disorienting process, I braced while pulling a clear picture of what I wanted to be into my mind. The next time I opened my eyes, I was level with Dimitrius and my clothes swamped me comically.

Giving him a grin, I crowed with a fist pump, the sleeves on my shirt falling over my hand. “Success! Now we just need to get some clothes that fit and find the park Tina was kidnapped from.”

Dimitrius nodded, moving for the door while dragging his too big pants with him. His shirt stretched nearly to the floor, covering everything as he called for one of the staff to bring appropriate clothes. They did, though not before a bewildered glance our way.

Their faces would have been hysterical, under other circumstances. Shaking it to the side for now, I focused on the present as excitement flared through me. We were finally headed in the right direction!