Chapter 27

Hadyn's ten o'clock appointment showed up precisely on time. Felicity showed the elf in. Like all elves he was short not more then four and a half feet tall, with green eyes and brown hair. Hadyn noted as Leif settled in a chair that his hair had a greenish tinge to it. Hadyn could see Leif examining him closely, but he wasn't sure what exactly Leif was looking for.

"Good morning," Hadyn greeted with a faint smile, "I'm Hadyn Becker," he motioned to the others, "my Second Kerien Malory and my student Gloria Donias."

"It's very nice to meet you," Leif replied, in a musical lilting voice. "I'm pleased you agreed to meet with me."

Hadyn smiled. "I'll meet with anyone who wishes to see me."

"Hmmm, so what he said was true," Leif murmured. Hadyn gave him a puzzled look, but Leif merely went on, "I wished to see you for several reasons, first, to thank you for allowing us to open our apothecary. We have been trying to get permission for the last two hundred years. You are the first to permit it."

Hadyn gave him a sheepish smile. "Well, I didn't see any thing wrong with it and I did have an ulterior motive. All my potions are elf made, but I get them through the council. I'd rather just pay you for them."

Leif's face went still. "At the normal discount, I presume?"

Hadyn frowned faintly. "What discount?"

"All mages get a discount set by the High Mage of the city," Leif said, still expressionless.

Hadyn scowled. "Well, that's a stupid rule. I know how hard it is to make those potions. Rowan let me watch a few times. No discounts, charge what you want."

"Rowan?" Leif questioned.

"Umm, I don't remember his last name," Hadyn admitted, "Rowan lives by the main Guild headquarters and makes all the potions there with his Family."

"Ah, you are referring to Rowan Brook."

Hadyn nodded. "That sounds right."

"A question, if I may?" Leif asked. Hadyn nodded curious. "Are you Nathaniel Cranes student?"

Surprise flashed over Hadyn's face and he nodded, "Yes, Nate has been teaching me since I was seven."

"Nathaniel is a Friend of our Family," Leif explained, "He speaks of you often, though never by name."

Hadyn nodded. "He's never used names in his stories."

"Yes, but we could tell he is quite fond of you," Leif replied.

Hadyn smiled. "I like Nate."

Leif smiled faintly. "There is another matter I wished to discuss with you, though you may not wish to speak of it."

"And that would be?" Hadyn asked, hesitantly.

"The prophesy."

Hadyn flinched slightly. His eyes flicked to Kerien then Gloria. He took a breath. "Gloria, why don't you go check out the library? I'll have Felicity send for you later."

Gloria knew a dismissal when she head one and stood immediately. "Of course, Hadyn." She left quickly. She had heard enough rumors of the prophesy to know she didn't want to know what they were going to talk about.

Once she was gone, Hadyn flicked his fingers setting a silence spell around the office. Before he could speak his phone rang. "Just a moment," Hadyn told Leif answering his phone, "Hadyn."

"Is everything alright, Hadyn?" Felicity asked.

"Yes, I set the spell, everything is fine," Hadyn reassured her.

"Very well, may I check on you in an hour?" she asked.

"That's fine."

"Thank you, Hadyn," she said before hanging up.

Hadyn replaced his phone before looking toward Leif. Kerien had rose and was standing behind his left shoulder. "I cannot say much. Talking of the prophesy is forbidden to mages."

Kerien could feel the tension radiating from Hadyn. ~Is he going to be alright?~ Kerien asked Zalan.

~Yes, this is merely a turning point.~ Zalan answered.

~A turning point for what?~ Kerien demanded.

~A turning point for the future. Everything hangs in a balance. No one knows which way the scale will tip, just as when Hadyn acquired you.~ Zalan explained.

~Let's hope it goes well then.~ Kerien murmured.

"I understand," Leif replied, "I was aware of the limitations of speaking of it. I have had many conversations with Rae Marshal, so I know much about it already. What I want to know is this, are you going to use the resources available to you to complete the prophesy?"

Hadyn stared at him. "No one knows who the prophesy is about. Why assume it's me?"

Leif chuckled. "You are the only possibility. No other mage has your resources or the inclination to take down the Guild."

Hadyn flinched slightly. "I have no resources. I just got here."

Leif raised an eyebrow. "You truly are unaware of your resources. How fascinating. Well then, I will enlighten you. Your first resource is the Wolves," he said flicking his fingers at Kerien. "They have already taken you in and hidden you from any Sight."

Kerien growled softly. Hadyn glared at him. "Stop that."

Kerien subsided with a scowl, ~He shouldn't know about that.~

~Elves have Sight. Of course he's figured it out. Chill, you're making me tenser.~ Hadyn answered.

~You don't need any help to be tenser, relax a little.~ Kerien replied.

~Easy for you to say.~ Hadyn snapped, ~I keep thinking about Beth Whitney.~ Kerien winced.

"Your second resource is the Vampires," Leif continued.

"Um, Eli hates me," Hadyn said dryly.

"No, he is merely jealous. He will get over it," Leif replied. "Nathaniel has been traveling for years telling other vampires of you. He started with Europe and Asia. He's been traveling the America's for the last seven months telling them of you. Word has spread through them and they have been waiting for the last few years for Nathaniel to say you were ready."

"Ready for what?" Hadyn asked warily.

"Ready to fulfill the prophesy."

"Yeah, sure," Hadyn said dryly, "With a few Weres and Vampires that I don't even know."

Leif shook his head. "You underestimate yourself and those who follow you."

Hadyn scowled. "I have twenty people in my pack and the only vampire I'm sure of is Nate and you expect me to go up against the council? You're nuts."

"That is not precisely correct," Leif disagreed, "Tell me Kerien, how many Were's know of Hadyn?"

"Everyone knows Hadyn," Kerien answered coldly. "The Keepers spread it through all of the Packs."

Hadyn flicked him a startled look, ~Really?~

~Yes, every Were in the world knows who you are.~ Kerien replied, ~And every Keeper would recognize you on sight. Keepers can pass images to each other.~

~…that's kinda creepy, Kerien.~

~Deal with it.~

"And tell me, Kerien, how many Weres would side with him?" Leif asked.

Kerien went very still. "I don't know," he said finally, "I know Julia and Theodore would and that would add in the Packs here and the Keepers they're allied with. My family has already accepted him and we have a lot of allies. I'd say around sixty to seventy percent of the Weres."

Hadyn stared at him in shock. Kerien shrugged. "He asked."

"I did," Leif agreed, clearly amused with Hadyn's reaction. "Perhaps you were unaware, but every vampire Nathaniel has spoken to has agreed to ally with you. Eli and the territory he controls is the last he needs to gain."

Hadyn shifted his gaze to Leif. "You're kidding, right?"

"I am serious. You may ask Nathaniel, if you do not believe me," Leif said rather indifferently, "With in a few days all Elves will know of you and I have no doubts that they would side with you as well."

"What's the point of that?" Hadyn demanded.

"I'm not done," Leif said reprovingly. Hadyn glared but subsided. "I have been gathering information on you for some time, Hadyn Becker. I know quite a bit about you. I also know how people saw you."

Hadyn glared. "Everyone hates me."

"No, everyone wants to hate you," Leif corrected, "You are a very difficult man to hate. You are truthful and most paranormals can sense truth in some way."

"So, what?" Hadyn snapped, "I don't like lying. What's the big deal?"

"The witches have been watching your movements since you were fifteen," Leif seemed amused again, "Do you know why?"

For a moment Kerien didn't think Hadyn was going to answer the question.

Hadyn glared at Leif but finally spoke, "When I was fifteen, Polly sent me with Adept FireStorm to deal with a coven in France. It was believed that they were raising the dead. Which didn't even make sense, Witches don't have the power to raise the dead. FireStorm wanted to just wipe them out. I stopped him and Zalan freed his Elementals and they fried him, before disappearing. With the covens help, I tracked down the demon responsible and killed it. Polly wasn't happy with me, since I left the coven alive and part of my orders was to eliminate them."

"They have never forgotten you," Leif said softly.

"They couldn't stand me," Hadyn snapped. "I made them help me because at the time I didn't know how to track demons. I track them now using a refined version of the spell they came up with. They resented me because I could do with a thought what took them five members and four hours of hard work."

"And yet you never belittled them, only watched and learned," Leif murmured seemingly idle.

Hadyn scowled. "What's your point? They knew more about tracking though magic then me. I bet they still do. I can't track anything like they can. I can only track magical creatures. They can track the mundane and objects."

"And perhaps you recall a Banshee Clan you met when you were eighteen?" Leif asked.

Hadyn frowned, thrown by the change of topic. "You mean K'son and M'lore, right?"

"I believe that was the names of the twins you aided. How long did it take you to track them down?" Leif asked.

Hadyn shrugged. "I don't know."

"You tracked down Banshees?" Kerien asked.

~Slave traders kidnapped them,~ Zalan half growled. ~Stole them right from their beds.~

Seim whimpered, ~Poor babies.~

"Babies?" Kerien repeated, horrified.

Hadyn ran a hand through his hair. "They were four at the time and boys. They were adorable and had a well of power, but no Scream to defend themselves. I just happened to be delivering a message to the head mage in Brazil when G'ten, their dad, was asking for help to find them. The head mage said it was a waste of time and refused to even listen to him, even though he was supposed to help. The Clan had a contract with the Guild complex there."

"So, you volunteered to find them," Kerien said smiling faintly.

"Well, no," Hadyn admitted, "more like I followed G'ten back to his Clan Hold and asked to be taken to the boys' room. They were just burned by the Guild that was supposed to help them. G'ten turned me down. So, I just pulled rank, got their signature, and hunted them down myself."

"Alone?" Kerien demanded.

"I was eighteen," Hadyn pointed out, "I had Zalan, Mel, Keev, and Seim by that point."

"But the Clan didn't help?"

Hadyn shrugged. "They didn't think I was really going out to find them, just pacifying them by saying I was going to try. It wasn't like it was hard, just time consuming. They had a three day head start on me and a private plane. I ended up having Seim 'port us closer or I might not have caught up to them before they were sold."

"But you brought them back, completely unharmed," Leif put in.

Hadyn glared. "How do you know all this?"

"I have been tracing your movements through the paranormal community since Nathaniel brought you to my attention ten years ago," Leif answered.

Hadyn stared at him. "You've been watching me since I was twelve?"

"Yes."

"…what else do you know?" Hadyn asked suspiciously.

Leif smiled. "I know you went out into a blizzard to find a warlock."

Hadyn groaned and buried his face in his hands. Kerien went rigidly tense. "Blizzard?"

"Yes," Leif replied, ignoring Hadyn's dark look. "Just after he turned sixteen, a little village girl asked him to find her grandpa, lost in the storm. The headman said it was foolish, but he went anyway and used his magic to keep the both of them alive."

"Have you always had a death wish?" Kerien demanded.

"I don't have a death wish," Hadyn snapped turning to glare at him. "I was fine. Zachariah was in a cave already. I just sealed most of the entrance and Zalan kept us warm. It wasn't even hard to get back, once the storm blew over. Zalan and I melted a path back to the village."

Kerien scowled. "Anything else I should know about?"

"No," Hadyn said still glaring.

"You don't want him to know about the Fairies?" Leif inquired.

Hadyn whipped around to glare at him. "No, he doesn't need to know about the Fairies. What is the point in all of this?"

"I want to know about the Fairies," Kerien muttered.

"Hush," Hadyn commanded, eyes still on Leif.

Leif smiled faintly, "I think you know what I want already, Hadyn Becker."

"You want me to declare war on the council," Hadyn said eyes flat.

"No, I wish for you to do what you were born to do," Leif replied, "I want you to fulfill the prophesy and destroy the Guild."

A/N: So, this ends part two. Part three, Hadyn: Taking down the Guild is next. So, it's not over, but I'm getting closer to the ending. This is a three part story, so the next part will be the last; I promise …I just don't know how many chapters will be in it… REVIEW!