Perilous Partnership by Ariel Tachna

where the research comes in,” Raymond explained. “We‟re hoping established pairs will be willing to help with that, both in terms of sharing their experiences and possibly in letting us conduct some experiments.
    Nothing that would damage the bond, but to help us determine how long certain effects last, that sort of thing. And this is where we need your help. We need to catalogue what we know for the educational side and what we don‟t know so we can outline the research component.”
    “What we do know,” Orlando began. “We know that between partners, the wizard‟s blood protects the vampire from sunlight for a period of time, depending on when the vampire last fed and how much he took.”
    “And we know that while the vampire feeds, the wizard‟s power increases significantly,” Alain added.
    Raymond nodded as they spoke, jotting down notes in a pad on the table next to him.
     
    Perilous Partnership
     
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    “We know a wizard‟s magic doesn‟t work on his partner,” Thierry said with a wink for Sebastien.
    “And that the bond forms from the first taste of the partner‟s blood,”
    Sebastien continued.
    “Does it, though?” Raymond disagreed. “The first taste is enough to establish the partnership and to protect the vampire from sunlight, but does the deeper bond, the one that draws the partners together, really form that quickly?”
    “Yes,” Alain and Orlando said immediately.
    “When we first met,” Orlando went on, “there was nothing between us, no alliance, no realization of the protection from sunlight, nothing but the taste of Alain‟s blood in my mouth.”
    “And the feel of Orlando‟s fangs in my wrist.”
    “But you remember what it was like, Jean. I couldn‟t stop thinking about him, talking about him,” Orlando continued. “When we met the next night, the compulsion to reach for his hand again was nearly overwhelming. If he had rejected me, maybe I would have recovered from it, but from the moment he offered his wrist that second time, there was no going back. Not for me.”
    “Nor for me,” Alain agreed. “I talked to Marcel that night, trying to figure out what was going on, if somehow Orlando had enchanted me. Marcel assured me that wasn‟t possible because if it were, vampires wouldn‟t be in the situation they were in.”
    “What about you, Thierry?” Raymond asked.
    “The day before we met at the gare de Lyon to search for partners, I buried my wife, killed in an ambush the night you followed Orlando and I followed Alain to their second meeting,” Thierry reminded everyone. “I‟d decided to do whatever it took to bring down Serrier, even if it meant a brand on my neck to match the one on Alain‟s. The burst of magic that hit Sebastien got away from me because I was so frustrated at not having found one. I was so focused on finding a partner that I would have agreed to anything once I had one. Whatever that meant.”
    “I wasn‟t sure I wanted to be there either,” Sebastien added, “given my shaky position within the Cour, but that first bite was all it took. I knew Thierry was grieving from the moment I tasted his blood, so I didn‟t press for anything more than a functional partnership, but the fascination was there.”
    “So perhaps my distrust of the situation skewed my reactions,” Raymond mused aloud, “because I certainly did not want to be partnered with any vampire. We won‟t have that problem this time around. No one will be obliged to form a partnership, and since we can use magic to identify partners instead of
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    Ariel Tachna
     
    blood, if the partners meet and decide they don‟t want to continue, they should be able to walk away, at least before the first exchange of blood.”
    “So what else do we know?” Jean asked.
    “We know that the bond forms based on some sort of magical compatibility and not on any existing preferences on the part of the people involved,” Thierry said. “I never had any interest in men