Nature or Nurture Ch. 37-39

'I see an impressive talent in you, but it is not active, you could not use it. It rather seems as if it is tied to your essence, to your body, as if it is powering you. Are you by any chance very strong, even more so than you look?'

That is just uncanny, no matter how weird magic sounds, no-one could make that up, that must be the stark truth. Vincent's power is related to a mage talent?

'I'd say your daughter has that talent from you, but how yours got connected to your physical body is a mystery to me,' Paul says, 'maybe we can find out some time, but now we all have work to do.'

Well, Adison can think of a way that something weird and unimaginable happened in Vincent's body. How about a stash of chemicals and a lightning-strike?

Maybe someone will be able to shed a light on what happened to Vincent, why he lost his colour, and why his blood stings and makes Mina feel like flying. And other things. The thought makes her smile, but Vincent is deadly serious.

'We have your address, we need to know. Catherine has already been in danger, and apparently there is something going on in our world that we don't have a clue about. We cannot afford that. We will contact you.'

And with that, he leaves, and Lukas and Paul go back to work.

Adison takes Melissa back to the kitchen, where Victor and Mina are taking a break from their exercise. Melissa does not mind explaining everything to them as well, and she tells Adison that she clearly has magical abilities, but that they are different from the ones she knows. But apparently, Melissa is a novice in the arts and she doesn't pretend to know everything about magic.

Mina wants to know what Melissa saw in her, it must have been shocking, for she can clearly see Melissa trying to hide a certain disturbance from her face.

'You saw something in me too, didn't you?' she asks the stunning young woman, not even afraid of what she'll hear.

Melissa nods, and replies, 'You have the same organs as normal people, but they seem to be wired differently. I'm amazed your are even alive, yet here you are, stronger than anyone I've ever seen. I'm stunned.'

Of course Mina knows what she is, and if this woman can find out just by looking at her what Victor wanted to accomplish by dissecting a deceased vampire, Mina is going to listen to her, she's mighty curious how her body functions as it does.

But Melissa is not planning to find out more, she seems more distraught by what she has seen than Mina is to be the person put together like that.

Studying her in her turn, Mina suspects this young woman is easily the most beautiful person she has ever seen, her skin is like cream, her hair like burnished copper, and her features are just perfect. Too bad she is hiding herself in that impersonal suit, she'd really shine in a dress. But maybe she does it on purpose, she's not here to attract attention, but rather to assist the men she's with.

Just then, Melissa asks them if she may see their practice. It seems one of the men now working on their new boiler, the smaller, thinner one, spends his spare time healing the poor, out in the streets apprently, but since he is from Greece, they expect him to suffer from the winter cold too much, and they would like him to have a practice that looks just like a real doctor's practice.

Looks just like one? What use would a practice be to a doctor if it only looks like one?

Victor asks her about it, and Melissa explains.

'Lukas heals with magic, but magic-use is forbidden, so he needs to fool his patients into believing he uses medicine.'

Victor has been listening with interest at what Melissa tells them. Of course the very idea of magic existing is ludicrous, he is a man of science, not of belief. But somehow this Melissa strikes him as a very rational being, she is an engineer after all, and her approach to magic seems almost scientific. And Victor cannot deny that she and her partners have quite specifically picked out all the peculiarities of their own company, they have predicted Vincent's strength, Mina's not being alive. And hasn't he seen Adison take a possession off someone twice?

If she did that with magic, an innate personal talent one can develop by training, that lies a lot lighter with Victor's rational mind than their current belief, that she is somehow the intermediary to a higher being.

Belief. Getting rid of that would be worth something to Victor.

And healing with magic? Lots of people say they can, quacks mostly, but if one can take a possession off someone with magic, and see inside Mina, why not heal?

With a sarcastic look he says, 'So many quacks trying to make people think they can heal by magic, and your friend can really do it and wants to hide it. It is the world upside down. But be my guest, I'll give you a tour myself.'

'Where is the little girl?' Melissa asks.

Adison explains that Catherine is having a nap, to be able to visit the theatre in the evening to watch her dad play. Their guest seems to worry even more over her safety than they do themselves, apparently she shows a clear mage-gift that will attract people wanting to abuse it.

The thing she tells about those mages using seduction does strike an uncomfortable note, Mina has told Victor about the incident in the coffee-shop, and whilst he doubts a girl will let herself be seduced by someone who burns her really badly, he also credits Mina's opinion that this person was just incompetent, with no empathy to appear benevolent enough to tempt a toddler.

She'll probably go for an adult next.

It would be so useful to be able to see her coming from a distance.

Now Adison asks whether she can do just that, recognize someone who has the talent, and damned if the redheaded beauty doesn't magic a ball of fire on her hand.

As he feels his own jaw drop, he can hear Adison say, 'I did see you light up, yes.'

'That is sight. Try look around you with those eyes, and you will probably see green lines running to

green balls. We call them ley-lines and nodes, they contain raw magic power. Don't touch them without someone present who knows magic, they can be dangerous.'

That sounds like balderdash, but Mina doesn't seem to think so, so Victor tries to keep an open mind. He did see Melissa conjure up a ball of fire after all.

As the redhead gets that blank look that he just saw on Adison's face, he realizes that that is what someone looks like who is looking for magical things in a person.

Her face returns to normal after just a second, and Melissa comments, 'I'm amazed you have been able to develop so much power without guidance.'

Adison corrects that wrong impression.

'Oh, but I had guidance, I studied under a Chinese master, but apparently they work intuitively, whereas your tradition works scientifically. Still I want to learn, we're not in China, and if mages exists, we need to be able to spot them in time. We've been fighting blind for more than a year.'

This is decidedly weird, Adison able to work magic, not a priest, apparently, but a mage. She seems to have talked enough about magic, it is difficult to grasp for Victor, who has none, so it must be harder on Adison, who will need to learn how to use hers.

'Melissa, why don't I show you the practice, we've only just had it built, we used to make house calls only, but it was a little dangerous at times.'

Melissa is happy to follow, and as she leaves the room, Victor is struck with the thought that this is a woman he would really like to dress, that suit is not very flattering to her figure, there must be a truly stunning woman underneath that stiff and efficient apparel. The wealth of copper waves, that unblemished pale skin. The curves of her. Truly gorgeous. And she must have a mind as well, to be an engineer and a mage both.

As his eyes follow her with appreciation, he finds Mina looking at his admiration for another woman with unfeigned approval.

'She is stunning, isn't she? I'm glad we have the same taste in women.'

Then she smiles at him, and gives him a truly passionate kiss, which he answers with a relish. Nearly time for her dinner, a moment Mina always knows how to make extra special. Her organs may be wired in a strange way, her mind certainly isn't.