When did her life become a supernatural science fiction novel?
“So, what exactly is this ritual for?” she asked as they drove. “What is their theory?”
“Well, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. It was pretty vague in terms of explanation. I think it’ll be better to let the coven explain it to you.”
“Hayden, I know you know something. Spill it.”
Hayden sighed. “Basically, like I said, there’s no way that wound could have healed so fast unless you had some sort of supernatural blood in your system that caused rapid healing. And the only supernatural creatures that can do that are vampires and werewolves. But obviously, you’re not either. So they’re going to test all of our blood to see if yours bonds with any of them.”
“Uh…okay…”
“I know, it sounds complex. But we’ll be at Paige’s house soon, so she can explain it to you then.”
Kenzie leaned back against the seat. She’d solved countless cases and unraveled many mysteries. But now, her greatest one, the one that she may be unable to solve, was about herself.
They arrived at Paige’s house shortly thereafter, as Hayden had said. Kenzie had only been to her witch friend’s house once, and that had been after helping Jillian’s younger sister recover from a near-fatal drug overdose. Too bad this situation wasn’t much better.
Isaiah’s car was already there. Hayden pulled his car in behind it and they both sauntered to the door and rang the bell. Paige answered it quickly and gave her friend a reassuring hug. Then, she led them into the living room.
“We could use my hidden room with all my spell books and things,” she said, “but there’s more room in here.”
Kenzie saw Jillian, who was at her side in literally an instant thanks to her superior speed. She wrapped her arms around her, and Kenzie almost felt crushed. Her best friend’s strength was still new to her, and Jillian herself was probably still getting used to it. But she appreciated the gesture.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Jillian said as she released Kenzie.
“I don’t know that I am,” Kenzie replied, forlorn.
“You will be,” Hayden insisted.
“Everyone calm down,” Paige instructed as Erika came into the room. “Kenzie, now that you’re here, we can begin. Sasha and Miranda are at work today, at their ‘regular’ jobs, so that’s why they’re not here. But we should be okay without them. First, I’ll let Erika explain what’s going to happen.”
“It’s simpler than it sounds,” Erika explained. “A long time ago, back in the Renaissance period, my family had something unique happen. They documented it, and it’s been passed down through the generations, but it hasn’t happened again. A witch from my family married a vampire, and they had a baby. That baby had witch and vampire blood, so it was a hybrid. The only one of its kind, but when he had a child of his own with his witch wife, their baby was a witch. The hybrid lineage died out after that. As you know, there’s a fifty percent chance of a baby being born a witch if one of its parents is a witch. The witch gene was more dominant in my family, and that’s why we were all born with our powers.”
“Okay…I don’t see where you’re going with this.”
“Are there any werewolves in your family tree?”
“Uh…I have no idea. My parents are human, my grandparents were human, I don’t remember my great-grandparents, and all my aunts and uncles are human…I highly doubt it.”
“Well, this ritual is going to find out for sure what’s in your blood. And actually, Paige and I both thought of something else to try while you were on your way here.”
Kenzie perused the room. She was getting as nervous as she’d been when she was supposed to have transformed.
“What is it?” she asked tentatively.
“Well,” Paige explained, “you’re aware of the old history between vampires and werewolves, right? They were arch enemies, and a werewolf bite can kill a vampire. But a werewolf’s blood tastes putrid to vampires. That’s part of the reason werewolves are considered stronger and more capable of taking down vampires.”
“Hey, now,” Isaiah began.
“No offense intended, Isaiah. It’s just one of those old legends, and it makes sense to us. But that’s not the point. The point is, Kenzie was bitten by a werewolf, but the wound healed fast and she didn’t transform into one. If she’s willing, we want to have one of her vampire friends taste just a small sample of her blood. If it tastes bad, we’ll definitely know something’s amiss. Vampires love human blood, but not werewolf blood.”
“Hell, no!” Hayden roared. “You are not going to draw my girlfriend’s blood and feed it to a damn vampire, even if they’re our friends!”
“Hayden,” Kenzie began.
“No. Don’t even think about it. No way in hell!”
Kenzie sighed inwardly. She knew that Hayden was only trying to protect her. But he also knew her and how stubborn she was, especially when it came to solving enigmas. And this one was about herself and who – or what – she truly was.
“I want to do it, Hayden,” she proclaimed. “I have to. I have to know what’s going on with me. Please.”
Hayden clenched his fist, but he finally acceded.
“On one condition,” he asserted firmly. “I want Isaiah to be the one to do it. He’s had more practice at control, and he’d be able to tell easier since he’s drank his fair share of human blood. No offense.”
“None taken,” Isaiah replied. He turned to his mate. “Jill?”
“I think it would be better if you did it,” she affirmed.
“Oh, one other thing,” Hayden added, “you’re not going to bite her.”
“No,” Paige interjected, “we’ll draw a little bit with a sterile knife, put it into a clean cup, and he’ll drink it that way.”
That was how Kenzie found herself squeezing her eyes shut and extending her palm forward. Erika, as gently as possible, sliced a gash down her palm, and Kenzie had to look away as the blood spilled forth. It was quickly poured into two separate cups, one for Isaiah and one for the spell. In that short time, everyone saw that the slice in Kenzie’s hand was beginning to heal itself already. Isaiah took the first cup, keeping it away from Jillian, who was being held back by Hayden just in case the smell got to her, and took a sip.
Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, but that didn’t last long. Isaiah’s face contorted into a disgusted grimace as he spat the blood back into the cup.
“Yep, it’s nasty,” he confirmed. “Ugh. No offense, Kenzie, but that is some of the worst blood I’ve ever tasted.”
Hayden actually chuckled, and Jillian was trying to stifle a chortle of her own. “It doesn’t smell appealing, either,” she said.
“Okay then,” Erika declared. “Now for the next part of the test. And since we’re all here, we’ll all give blood samples.”
Everyone’s palms were slashed and their blood was dripped onto a piece of paper set up on the coffee table. Paige put labels next to each puddle indicating which species the blood belonged to. Kenzie’s blood was applied last, right in the middle of the circle of blood samples.
It looked like a supernatural crime scene when it was complete.
“This is how it’s going to work,” Erika explained. “Kenzie, your blood is in the center. When we perform the ritual, if there is another type of blood in your body, your blood will move toward the type it matches. So if there is werewolf blood in your body, your blood will move toward Hayden’s blood. Does that make sense?”
Kenzie nodded mutely as she stared at the table. A grimoire was sprawled open next to the paper. Paige and Erika used this to recite the incantation.
As the foreign, almost other-worldly words were spoken, everyone watched the blood-spattered paper. Kenzie’s blood in the center began to move, and then it began to branch out.
The blood moved slowly, but it gradually made its way toward Hayden’s. That was confirmation that somehow, Kenzie had werewolf blood in her system.
But that was only the beginning. Kenzie received another shock when her blood began to branch out in another direction, this time toward Paige’s.
When the ritual was complete, the only blood that was untouched on the paper was Isaiah’s, the vampire’s.
“What…?” Kenzie gasped as she turned toward Hayden. He held her tightly.
“Are you sure you did that spell right?” Jillian inquired.
“Positive,” Paige replied. “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Never mind that,” Hayden interjected. “How did she get werewolf blood in her body? She didn’t bite me, and I didn’t bite her.”
“She didn’t have to bite anyone,” Erika replied. “It could be as simple as she was born with it in her system.”
“What about the witch blood?” Isaiah asked.
“Same story. Truthfully, I don’t know of any way to become a witch except to be born as one.”
“You know,” Paige said thoughtfully, “I’ve always said that Kenzie’s had certain traits of a witch. Of course, I was just kidding, but think about it. The way she is with animals, and how faithful Sage is to her. Yes, Sage is highly intelligent, but it’s almost like she’s a familiar. And that unicorn Kenzie told us about. Unicorns don’t approach just anyone, and that one in Appaloosa Plains actually helped save her life.”
Kenzie put her hand over her face. This was too much for her to process. Just when she thought she might finally know what was going on, the plot thickened.
“I don’t get how I can be born with two supernatural blood types in my system and not even know it,” she said at last. “I’ve never transformed into a werewolf, and I’ve never cast a spell, even accidentally. Don’t hybrid creatures have the abilities of both species they’re a part of?”
“Yeah,” Paige said, “but not always the bad parts, like transforming during a full moon. Maybe we should have you try to cast a spell.”
“No, that won’t work,” Erika said. “She doesn’t have the superior werewolf senses, like hearing and seeing, but apparently she has the fast healing ability. This whole thing makes no sense.”
“And if her family is all human…”
“I’ve heard of traits and things skipping generations. Maybe she did have werewolves or witches in her family, but it was a really long time ago. And it just skipped several generations until Kenzie was born as one. Well, part of one. Maybe she even had both.”
“Reincarnation,” Isaiah interposed, startling everyone. They all turned to stare at him.
“Excuse me?” Hayden retorted.
Isaiah sighed. “I was hoping to never have to explain this, but I guess now is the best time to do so.”
“What are you talking about?” Jillian asked, her eyes wide.
“Kenzie,” Isaiah said as he turned to her, “do you remember when we first met in Bridgeport?”
“Yeah…you were putting a note on my car, warning me to leave.”
“Well, I was concerned about your safety, but there’s more to the story than that. The truth is, when I first saw you, it was only a glimpse from behind, but I…I thought you were someone else. Someone I knew a long time ago.”
“Uh…”
“Kenzie, I never said anything, but the resemblance is striking. You look very much like a werewolf I knew when I was still human. And, well, it’s not an exact duplicate, but at first glance from afar, you looked just like her.”
“You knew a werewolf that looked like me before you were a vampire?”
“Similar to you. Her hair was a little darker and her eyes were brown, but before I met Elijah, she was my best friend. And, well, at times I hoped that it would be more.”
“Wait,” Jillian cut in, “you were dating a werewolf that looked like Kenzie? You basically dated her in some other life?!”
“No! Of course not! Kenzie is a completely different person from Bianca, and she has her own soul. I swear, Jillian, it’s not like that.”
“Except you warned her of danger in Bridgeport…because you thought she was your werewolf crush!”
“That ended as soon as I was transformed. I couldn’t get close to her without the smell nauseating me, since I hadn’t yet become accustomed to it. But yes, when I saw Kenzie, I thought it was impossible that Bianca would still be alive after all these years, and I didn’t want her to see me like this but I did want her to be safe. So I left her a note…only to discover that it was Kenzie, not Bianca, who I saw, when she caught me in the act.”
This was a lot to take in. Was Kenzie truly the reincarnation of a werewolf that may or may not have been romantically involved with Isaiah? Yet, it did make sense, considering how she and Isaiah had met, and considering another factor that was spelled out verbally by Paige as she spelled it out inwardly for herself.
“That explains her strong love for wolves,” Paige was saying. “She said she can’t remember how she even started liking them, and of course she has a dog that’s half wolf, and a werewolf boyfriend. Yes, that could be coincidence, but a lot of girls would run away if they found out their boyfriend was a werewolf. Kenzie stayed, and she doesn’t care. It’s all a part of her former life, and the werewolf blood inside her.”
“But doesn’t reincarnation involve the same soul inside a new body?” Hayden wanted to know.
“Not always,” Paige amended. “In fact, a lot of times, there’s a close resemblance to the original soul carrier, but that’s it. Everything Kenzie feels and believes in are her own thoughts. There isn’t some ancient soul dictating her life or feelings. It was just a blueprint, so to speak, that helped build the person that she is. The most it did was give Kenzie her strong love of wolves.”
“And her appearance?”
“She looks just like her dad,” Jillian interjected. “I’ve seen pictures of her when she was little. Her dad had the same hair color as she does now when he was her age. It got darker over the years, but that’s it. She has his eyes, and her mom’s nose. She looks like herself, not someone else.”
“It’s true,” Isaiah confirmed. “Bianca had darker hair, brown eyes, and she was significantly tanner than Kenzie. No offense intended, of course.”
“Kenzie,” Erika cut in, “I think you should go up your family tree and see if you can find any evidence of witches in it. That’s my theory – you were born with reincarnated werewolf blood in your body, and a witch ancestor gene skipped several generations until it came to you.”
“But why don’t I have any magical powers or superior senses?”
“You’re essentially a three-way hybrid. That’s very rare. In fact, it hasn’t been heard of for centuries. Your parents are both human, and a lot of generations before them probably are, too. Your human blood is more dominant because of that. And of course, blood is thicker than water. Your human blood kept your werewolf and witch blood in check, so that’s why you can’t experience any of the perks or disadvantages of being either species. You were able to live your life as a human. If it weren’t for this rogue werewolf, you may never have known this. Maybe it was fate that you were bit. To find out who you really are.”
“Who I really am?” Kenzie exploded. “Who and what I really am is a freak of nature! I have two supernatural blood types inside me, and I can’t even use them! I don’t know my own history and my soul came from some werewolf that Isaiah was infatuated with in a past life! I’d rather have turned into a werewolf! Next, I’m going to find out that I’m so pale because I’m part vampire, too!”
Hayden embraced his sobbing girlfriend, who was on the verge of hysterics. “Kenzie, you are your own person. I love you just as you are. I don’t give a shit what breed you are. You know that. However,” he glared at Isaiah, “you are mine, and if fang boy over there tries to rewrite history…”
“Never,” Isaiah retorted. “It’s Jillian that I love.”
“It’s just…I feel so…lost,” Kenzie wept, ignoring the conflict. “I thought I knew who I was, and even what my future would be. But now I find out all this…”
“We don’t know for sure that that’s the case,” Jillian said gently. “They’re theories. And as a detective, you have to prove or disprove them.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’ll start by asking my parents what they know of their family history. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to figure out the werewolf part. All we have to go on is Isaiah’s story, and I’m sure that werewolf died a long time ago. They aren’t immortal.”
With nothing else that could be done, Kenzie and Hayden said their goodbyes to their friends. Kenzie saw on her cell phone that she’d missed a call from her parents. She realized that she’d best return home to Riverview now and begin her new, and most likely biggest, investigation.
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