Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic

Scarlet

The two share a glance for some reason before turning back to me.

“Is that your contracted fae’s actual name or one you gave him as a nickname?” Allen asks, his tone sounding serious.

I blink in confusion before tilting my head slightly and annoyingly enough noticing Allen’s eyes flicker to my ears and back to my face again as I answer, “It’s a nickname I gave him to shorten his really long name.”

The two share another glance.

“Okay, why are you being so secretive all of the sudden?” I ask while using my clean and repair skills to fix up my clothes and clean up the blood on my jacket before putting my hands in my pockets. “It’s just weird.”

They turn to look at me again as Allen carefully says, “Look, the fae are special in that their names have importance. Meaning that most fae tend to keep their names hidden, only letting those they trust know them.”

I stare at the two for a few seconds before the realization hits me.

Tar… trusts me? That… what?

“How’s that possible?” I ask with a frown, seemingly confusing them even more, “Tar literally threatened me when we first met! How could that translate to trust?!”

Now that surprises the two.

“That’s not possible. We fae are not capable of harming humans or demons by decree of the royal family of the fae,” the panda says, surprising me back in the process.

I frown.

“Does taking away my pain and then giving it back when I don’t listen to him count as threatening me?”

The two share another glance. Which is really starting to annoy me.

When they look back at me again, Allen says, “Technically, it does. But it doesn’t count as harming you. So your fae just sounds… like an oddball amongst the fae.”

His panda fae nods its little head in agreement with that.

Oh.

“Also, you mentioned that his name was long? How long is it? Two words? Three?” Allen asks seemingly out of nowhere. “The length of a fae’s name can generally be used to determine how high up the fae court they are.”

Wait, so that’s why his name is so long?

“He has five names,” I answer them, surprising them once again. But this time it’s enough to make Allen almost lose his footing and fall after leaning too far to one side if it weren’t for the panda catching him.

“Five?!” he shouts, a mixture of disbelief and shock in his tone. He then lowers his head to look at his fae as he asks, “Only members of the royal family have that many names, right?”

My mouth drops open.

“Yes, you’re correct,” the fae answers, also seemingly in shock. “And that means a royal fae has contracted with a human and given them his full name.” The panda then looks directly at me and says, “If you care for your contracted partner at all, do not tell anyone his full name.”

I unconsciously nod my head.

“Thank you,” the panda says before vanishing.

Huh.

Both Allen and I just stare at where the panda was in silence for who knows how long before we’re interrupted by the sound of beeping coming from Allen’s wrist. And unlike when I was called, he answers it, making Belle’s livid face show up on the screen.

“Belle?” Allen asks, slightly surprised, and still a little stunned from the revelation we both just had.

She immediately opens her mouth to speak, only to close it the moment she sees me through the camera feed. Then the anger on her face vanishes in an instant, replaced almost immediately by a flood of tears as she shouts, “Scarlet! You’re okay!!!”

After a second though, her joy takes on a slightly confused tone as she sees my ears and adds, “And you have… wolf ears? Wait, you became a Guardian?!”

I nod my head, slightly amused at her reaction. At least, until she adds, “Can I touch you-”

“No.” I shut that down immediately before she can even finish asking.

Meanwhile I can hear Allen trying to hold himself back from laughing. I scowl at him for a second before turning back to the screen as I ask, “So how are you doing? Are there any Fractures near you? And what about Arthur?”

She looks confused for a second before muttering, “Pretty sure I’m supposed to be the one asking you if you’re alright, but yeah. I’m okay. And so is Arthur. There was one Fracture near me-” Allen’s head jerks to stare at the screen at the mention of this “-but it was only a Class I. And the Guardians at the university took care of it quickly enough.”

Allen lets out a sigh of relief after hearing that last part.

Ignoring the protective parent in the room, I nod my head with a smile, “I’m glad you’re both safe then.”

Before either of us can say anything else, another beeping sound comes from Allen’s device, following which a second call opens up, showing a screen next to the one of Belle. This screen has a woman with a rather blank face simply staring through the screen, giving me an incredibly unnerving feeling in the process. Almost like she can tell everything about me just from a single glance, which I know isn’t true.

Sage. Allen’s information gatherer and communicator. A subordinate of his that brings him intelligence and spreads it around his people.

“We have been trying to call you for nearly ten minutes now, sir,” she says, her voice just as blank sounding as her face. Kind of like a robot. “But I now see that it was because of the young miss.” Sage pauses for a second as she looks at me and adds, “Congratulations on becoming a Guardian. I will be looking forward to working with you if that is what you decide.”

Then the call cuts off without us being able to say a word.

None of us say anything for a few seconds before I look at Allen and ask, “Did she just hack your suit’s terminal?”

He nods his head without a word.

Wow.