THE MATCHMAKER: By Lori Titus
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012The Marradith Ryder Series: The Art of Shadows, Part 71
Fiona Shepherd always thought of herself as a romantic.
In her early twenties, she fell in love with a man that she was forbidden to see, and in the end, decided to leave behind a promising ballet career to have a child. For a time after that she floated through casual relationships, keeping lovers that were friends, but never true partners.
It wasn’t until she met Rafael Castillo that she began to think about what it would be to have a spouse, a man to build a life with. Their relationship started with anger and tension, but once they knew each other, she found herself drawn to him against her better judgement.
It was always that way with men. Some spark, some intuitive thing always lead her way. The heart and head could function together, but rarely did.
There were times in her relationship with Rafael when Fiona almost abandoned the idea of romantic love, angered by the distance that had grown between them over the years. As Sojourners, they lead a dangerous life. Shadows and secrets had to be kept. It was part of the nature of their business, but it also served to harden her emotions, making it difficult to share or let anyone in. Or specifically, Rafael.
Before the marriage, during one of their protracted seperations, Fiona had an affair with Justin Granthem.
It happened a few times over the course of years, and she always was clear with Justin that she wanted nothing serious, that they were and always would remain friends.
As she eventually drifted back to Rafael, and later married him, Justin went through his own relationships. Some which were friends with benefits, others that meant less to him. Justin had been married twice in his life before Marradith, but there was a long lapse in time between each. Despite the fact that he was a handsome man, and shared her interests, she was too bonded to Rafael to seriously consider him for herself.
Around the time that she began to ponder such things, she was presented with a problem.
The Sojourners always kept track of members of each race of Others. While the numbers of vampires, Wolves, or witches were fairly easy to keep track of, hybrids were another thing entirely. Some lived as humans, keeping their supernatural abilities secret. Some were barely Other, demonstarting abilities not far above ordinary humans.
But specifically, Lamia, the ulitmate hybrids who carried the blood of all the species: human, vampire, and Wolf… were dying at an alarming rate. Many were being targeted for death by the Circle.
Fiona was tasked with coming up with a proposal to stop - or at least slow - the sharp decrease in deaths amongst the Lamia population.
She stayed up all night, writitng a proposal that was elegantly simple.
Those Lamia that were already in the clutches of The Circle would be nearly impossible to rescue without placing the lives of agents in danger. An attempt would probably end more lives than it would save.
Fiona believed the easier, better solution, was to focus on keeping the Lamia that were free safe from ; to concentrate on shielding the youth. By building families that had strong ties to the Sojourners, who would eventually grow to provide service within their ranks. Without the external presures of life amongst humans, these Lamia would live among their own kind. They would not marry humans, which would only diminsh the bloodlines over time.
While the Graymoor- the secluded group of Shape Shifters that Fiona came from- stayed away from the outside world because they believed their race was superior, the Lamia chosen for her program would simply be ensuring the survival of their kind.
Lamia, after all, were a rare and valuable commodity. They looked human, but carried abilities from both Wolves and vampires, without ever going through a metamorphosis or needing human blood. They moved easilly amongst humans and Others. They could track Wolves, they often posessed extraordinary strength and the ability to heal quickly. And that didn’t even take into consideration other powers that were unique to certain individuals.
The Sojourners would provide for their needs: shelter, housing, subsidizing college and providing connections for jobs to those that needed them. All that was asked of the adults who entered into the contract was that their children, upon reaching legal age, would submit to an arranged marriage with other Lamia.
For the better part of fifteen years, this became Fiona’s pet project. She made the selections of who was to be married through an exhaustive process, matching volumes of information about each person by computer. She checked in on the families, made sure that things went well. There was a high success rate with the marriages because there was little choice but to submit.
Children were always the anticipated and encouraged result, and over a decade, the population increased almost five times the original count.
Things went well until the murders started. And then, the talk of Adam.
Fiona struggled to understand how something conceived in the hope of furthering a species could end so badly. The families had thrived until then, happy couples with strong, healthy children.
It had never occurred to her, in the days when she planned and charted the lives of others out on a computer screen in her office, that fate lays waste to the best of plans, no matter how well intentioned.
________________________________
©2012 Lori Titus
