Blood Ties - D. R. Rosier Page 0,1

during class. There was a little classroom on the ground floor of the brownstone, but it was a hell of a nice warm June day.

I shot Lon an apologetic look as I pulled out my smartphone, courtesy of the pack. I was drawing a salary as an enforcer even in training, but I was also mated to the alpha of the pack, and the pack funds paid for the thing. I typed in on the little screen keyboard what I’d seen, along with the address of the house, and then sent it. My alpha mate could determine if it was even a thing or not.

Class was about half over, for the first half he talked mostly about complicated and mind-bending facts of nature and the world around us that the humans had no idea were even a thing. Mostly because they weren’t aware of the existence of magic. I’d even heard it speculated on, that that’s why the humans couldn’t figure out a universal scientific theory, and that was why Einsteinian and quantum physics were contradictory, between the macro and micro levels. They were missing critical information.

Point was, the second half was when we actually got around to learning a spell or two.

Lon nodded when I put the phone away, and said, “Today we’re going to learn how to cast privacy shields. It touches on air magic as well, but in a basic way and is otherwise nature magic. As you know the universe vibrates around us, and everything is connected to some extent. As we walk around we leave traces of our thoughts and feelings behind, our vibes. This is how the visions work, though we can’t control when and where we get them, nor what they’re about. Our senses and power pick up those traces, and they put together a picture of what happened. The more violent the emotions or thoughts involved, the stronger the traces that are left and the clearer the resultant vision. In rare cases, the vibes can be so strong they’re seen before they’re even felt, and they send ripples back through time into the past, which gives us a glimpse of the future.

“A privacy shield will block those traces from being left. Without those traces to read, no vision is possible. That’s only one part of it, we’ll also be modifying the sound and light transmission capabilities of air as the spell layers against the walls of the room and all other non-biological matter. So the privacy spell will even defeat a bug, or audio and visual recording device. If you want privacy, it’s not just another witch’s visions we have to worry about, not in the modern human world. Or even a kid with a glass against their ear and the door.”

A few giggles were heard at that last.

Jason, one of the other students asked, “Isn’t that what rogues and fae do to evade us? Why do we learn something so easily abused?”

Lon raised an eyebrow, “Do you plan to abuse it?”

Jason blushed, “No, sir. I’m just wondering what we would use it for.”

Lon nodded, “Many things. Some high-level meetings in the coven, or when Cadence is with the other three city leaders is a good example of a proper use of the spell. Those discussions are not for all our ears and can become quite heated at times. Then there’re rogue witches and fae magical races. When some of us are put on a capture team, it’s prudent to use privacy shields so they don’t see us coming for them. Then there’s the cases where we’re called in to help with a coverup if a human gains knowledge of the supernatural, because of that sometimes we have to enter government buildings and we don’t want to be seen on camera. Lastly, if we take down a rogue or fae in an area where exposure is likely, we can block the sounds of a fight from waking up the whole neighborhood, so to speak. I imagine if we put our minds to it, we could come up with more examples of a good and righteous use for it, but those are the major ones we use it for.”

There were no more questions, and for the next thirty minutes Lon described the spell in excruciating detail. It was only nine words, but each word accompanied different concepts and focuses as the spell built up and formed. Insulating matter against other vibrations, deadening sound and light, and even changing the light for those rooms