Free Asanni by J. F. Kaufmann Page A

our society become
aware of what we are, or accidentally see us changing forms, we can
modify their thoughts and alter or erase their memory. Unless
they’re vardangaer. You’ve heard of them?”
    I nodded. “It means guardians. They’re said
to be immune to our powers and magic, so we can’t hide from them.
So they really exist? They always seemed to me more like a romantic
myth.”
    “They do exist. They see things other humans
can’t, but they are usually people of the highest moral standards
and our secrets are safe with them. That’s why we call them
guardians. I see them as the link between our kind and theirs. As a
token of gratitude, vardangaer are offered the choice to become one
of our kind. A werewolf or a vampire, that is. Since wizardry can
be acquired only by birth, your kind grants them the access to your
doctrine and secret knowledge, and those skills humans are capable
of mastering.”
    “Have you even known a vardanni or a vardan?
Those are the words for female and male guardians, right?”
    “Correct... No, I haven’t. They are very
rare, or maybe they just rarely come in contact with us, so we
think they are fewer than they in fact are.”
    “Okay, but what about the regular
non-werewolves of Red Cliffs? They’re not vardangaer, but our
secrets are safe with them nonetheless.”
    “The humans among us, of course know about
us. We’re part of each other’s existence. Most marriages are mixed.
Our humans are a bit different: they’re healthier and live far
longer than average.”
    “But you have outside visitors, don’t you?
You’re not a closed community.”
    “Not at all. We have lots of tourists and
business partners. They don’t notice anything unusual. This is how
it works. Even if someone is extra-perceptive, they can’t do us
harm on our territory and they don’t remember a thing as soon as
they leave our boundaries.”
    That was good to know, Astrid thought. That
explained a great deal about why werewolves so easily cohabited
with humans, but it didn’t answer her question. Why did she think
Jack was the father of her child?
    “And we have a few other tricks at our
disposal,” Jack carried on, “like changing our appearance, to look
older, or younger, or entirely different.”
    “Can any werewolf do that?”
    “Some of us can do it, some can’t. I
can’t.”
    “So you cannot read or sense other peoples’
thoughts?” she probed again.
    “I can’t read them. I can sense a great deal,
but it happens more through my nose than through my mind. And I’m
talking about werewolves in general. Our skills vary from
individual to individual, though. Why are you asking?”
    “I want to know more about you.”
    “ Me , Jack, or us , werewolves?”
he asked.
    She smiled. “Can’t you guess?”
    “Okay, then. What do you want to know about
me?”
    “What is your position in Red Cliffs?”
    It was about him. Good. “I’m a crown prince.”
He laughed. “The next Einhamir, I guess,” he added in a somber
tone.
    “Einhamir is one of those archaic words that
are still in use, isn’t it?”
    “Eigi Einhamir is how humans from Northern
Europe called us long ago. It means ‘not of one skin’. We shortened
it to Einhamir, and adopted it as the official title for a clan’s
Alpha male. Einhamir sounds more… well, let’s say, less zoological
than Alpha.”
    “What’s the official title of an Alpha
female, then? Einhamira?”
    Jack rubbed his chin. “How about Einhamir’s
beloved wife? There’s no official title for her, and please don’t
be pissed off. She’s an Alpha female, that’s it.”
    Astrid pursed her lips let out a dry snort.
“So, the female title is more zoological.”
    “Now I see that, too.”
    “Well, that’s something to work on, then.
Einhamir’s not a hereditary position, is it? Your father was the
previous Einhamir, but you didn’t automatically replace him when he
died. James did,” Astrid said.
    “No, it’s not inherited. The clans