[Carmen]“Echo told me about your family. I’m so sorry you lost them. We won’t press you more about them. If you want, I can leave, so it doesn’t remind you of them, but I would like to be here. That way I would know right away that you were healthy,” Harmony said softly. ‘She moved closer to him and put her hands on her stomach. He’s watching each movement and is progressively letting his guard down,’ Austin told me.‘Her vampire hypnosis makes people want to like her. It looks like she already had an opening with looking like his wife. At least this could go smoothly,’ I replied. “Will you sit with me and hold my hand?” Spencer asked. “Sure, I will.” The sound of movement and a bed caught my attention. It sounded like she was climbing and crawling on a bed. A little more fidgeting and the noise stopped. “Is this okay?” Harmony asked. “Yeah,” he replied quietly. “Carmen’s going to come sit on the other side of you and hold your other hand. If you want, we can talk so you’re distracted while she works,” she offered. “That sounds good. Your voice is so similar to hers. You’re younger, but it’s like seeing her in old photos, but in real life.” There was a reverence in his voice that didn’t escape my notice. Her ability was speaking to a very vulnerable part of him. I didn’t know if this was a good idea, but I didn’t want to upset Spencer and risk someone getting hurt. Austin took me over to the bed. I felt around and took a seat on the edge of the bed. I could feel Spencer’s attention on me again. This time, it wasn’t as intimidating as before. I put out my hand in his direction. “I’m Carmen Rosen. It’s nice to meet you, Spencer.” He accepted my hand. “So you weren’t afraid. You can’t see me. How does your thing work?” It seemed that his distraction by Harmony wouldn’t be as simple as letting her magic take over the situation. His mind was strong. I smiled. “I was born blind but with a fae blessing that helps me see beyond what sighted people can see with their eyes. It won’t hurt you. I promise,” I replied. “Go ahead.” He didn’t wait before starting to talk to Harmony again. It was mostly about where she’d grown up and her life before now. He asked about her husband and family. It was interesting. She was chatting like a normal person, but he actually wasn’t saying much beyond getting her started. Part of me suspected that Spencer knew something about Harmony’s ability and he was mitigating part of its power by getting Harmony to focus on herself. I could feel the pressure of his attention while she talked. As soon as she stopped, his attention was drawn back to him. Slowly, I took a deep breath and tried to clear my mind. The first thing I did was actually check to see if he had any injuries no one could see. He had scars that went deep into his flesh. There was something that was different about one of them, though. It was a cross with flared ends and a narrow center. Each arm was exactly the same length as the other and it looked as if the cross could form a perfect square if the lines of the flared ends expanded until they touched. The scar was on his back, over his heart. I was fairly certain he knew it was there. What really drew my attention to it, though, was that there was magic in it. Not magic like ours. Not the goddess’ magic or the magic of the earth. It was different and the magic flowed through his body, the cross scar seeming to be the driving force. The scar was like a heart, pumping magic through him. I noted that for later and focused on who he was and what his past was. Maybe that would give me a better idea of what it was and what it meant. I felt my magic break into him. He gripped my hand tighter. Had he felt that? “What are you doing?” Spencer asked. “I’m doing what I told you. There’s some magic in you. I have to check the flow of it. Do you have relatives that are supernatural? Witches, maybe?” “Not that I know of… I was an orphan,” he replied, then I could feel him shake himself. “Why did I tell you that? Are you making me tell you things?” His grip got even tighter on my hand. He was using a lot of strength, but I was strong enough to withstand it. Even if I wasn’t a fully functioning werewolf, I had ranked blood. That meant a lot when he tried to overpower me. “That’s not what my ability does. It’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with being an orphan. The world can be a tough place.” Spencer was quiet for a while. It was like he was trying to work something out. I didn’t push any further. It seemed like Harmony didn’t have as much as a hold as she thought. I was betting it had something to do with that magic in him.  After a bit, his grip loosened. He asked Harmony another question and she answered it carefully. I was pretty sure she was realizing that her grip on him wasn’t as strong as she had thought earlier. Tentatively, I began working on accessing his past again. I felt a little tingling in my head. I had never had actual visions. They were always like words that came to me. Information in some disembodied way. This time, I could see. I gasped. I had never seen anything in my life. Even when I used my magic, it was outlines in the dark. This was color and texture and shapes. “What?” Spencer asked. “Your magic is clashing with mine a little. It shocked me,” I lied. I hadn’t entirely lied. I was shocked and I couldn’t hide that fact. I wondered if it was his magic that let me see instead of just giving me information. If so, it was an amazing magic. I had never heard of a magic that could make the blind see. He grumbled, then turned his attention back to Harmony. What I saw hadn’t changed. It was a small stone room with a straw mat on the floor and a small bed in the corner. There was a little closet in the corner. The vision seemed to be from behind someone’s eyes. The eyes moved down and I could see a small body kneeling in front of a crucifix that was the only decoration in the room. The child was reciting a prayer in another language. It almost sounded Italian… maybe?Time sped up. I watched the boy undergo strict tutelage in the place. He had small, modest meals and prayed a lot. When he was old enough, he trained in fighting hand to hand and with weapons. He had classes in the basics for school, plus several languages. All of this was with an obviously religious bent. When he was sixteen, there was a graduation ceremony with several other boys. He already had several scars on his body. When it was his turn, he was taken out of the back and brought to an altar. They prayed with him while another man prepared something that glowed in a container. He was stripped down to nothing and taken to a pool where a man in robes was saying more prayers and the water started to glow. There was no reflection from the glow, so I assumed no one else could see it. The boy was dipped into the water before coming out and wrapping himself around something that looked like a chair with an extra padded back. He sat on it backwards, baring his back to the room while he gripped the back of the chair. The man with the glowing container came closer. He asked the boy several questions that I couldn’t understand. I was pretty sure they were in Latin. After he had answered a few questions, the man pulled a brand out that was glowing with something molten. I realized I had exited the boy’s body right around when he entered the glowing water and was watching from behind as the man pressed it into his skin. It didn’t stop when it had merely scarred his skin. The man kept pushing it in until it was an open wound that went deep into the boy’s flesh. He wasn’t screaming, though. I couldn’t see any tears in his eyes. Instead, he chanted prayers under his breath as he took the abuse. My stomach twisted. After that, I couldn’t go back into the boy. Instead, I watched over him as he healed and started being sent on missions. Some were very simple and small. Others had him fighting humans. When they spoke English, I would pick up bits of what they were saying. It seemed like only important events slowed things down. The first time he fought a monster, though, time almost seemed to stop. It was horrifying. Nothing like anything I had ever encountered. Pure evil poured off it in waves. Spencer, as I had recognized his voice once he hit about eighteen, fought with everything he had. The monster was strong and I was afraid for him. As he fought, he prayed, just like he always had. I was fairly certain his devotion to his god was possibly stronger than my devotion to my goddess. As he ran the creature through with a sword, he finished his prayer and it shrieked before it started melting into a gruesome black, red, and yellowish-green sludge. He crossed himself and cleaned his sword on his pants before sheathing it in his back. It completely disappeared. The sword was housed in his body. He just looked like a normal man as he left the building where the monster had been. As far as I knew, supernaturals didn’t melt. The closest I had heard was vampires past a certain age turning to ash after they died, but I didn’t know how much of that was true. Time went on and there were more fights with monsters. Soon, more fights with monsters than fights with humans. His tattoos started popping up. There was a time when he traveled with the human military, but no one seemed to question him. One day, time stopped. Not slowed. It stopped entirely. Spencer was in a coffee shop in America. He looked up and saw a woman standing in front of him. Around her neck was a glowing stone. She looked a lot like Harmony. The woman was taller by a few inches and her chestnut brown hair was cut in a playful bob. Her eyes weren’t like Harmony’s either. They were a crystalline blue. They looked at each other silently. Even though he was human, he reminded me of a werewolf seeing his mate for the first time. The woman sat in the chair across from him and stuck out her hand. He stared at it for a while, then accepted it. The necklace she was wearing cracked and stopped glowing. “I’m Stephanie Aimes. It’s nice to meet you.” “Your necklace broke,” Spencer answered. She laughed. “You’re supposed to introduce yourself.” For the first time in his entire life, I saw him smile. Her laugh broke through to him. He instantly loved her, just like a supernatural. “Spencer Santos. Your necklace broke,” he replied with a sparkle in his eye. Stephanie put her hand over the necklace. “It’s okay. The necklace breaking is a good thing. It means I’ve found what I was looking for.” “Seems like a complicated way to find a seat in a café.” She laughed again. They hadn’t released each other’s hands the whole time. Neither one seemed to realize it as they drank their drinks. It felt like magic between them.