Drowning in Family Secrets
This article is a part of Spooktober 2024 and is still a work in progress. Written for the Drown prompt.All it took was one wrong step. Cinaed slipped, not even enough time to scream as the ground underneath him disappeared and then he was in the water. He vaguely thought that he heard his half-brother yell but then his head was under the water. Water in his nose. His ears. Choking, coughing, flailing. Which way was up? Which way was up?! He managed to get his head above the water briefly, inhaling air and water in one desperate gulp, and then was dragged under again. Then something slammed into his shoulders, knocking the air out of his lungs. He was going to die. Cinaed tried desperately to swim in what he hoped was up but the current was too strong, dragging him deeper and deeper into the water. His lungs burned, at first like the warmth of fire magic against his hands and then like the very serious burn he had gotten on the back of his hand from his gran's cast iron cookpot. He flailed, kicked, reached desperately towards the dim glow of light. Desperate to live. His head then hit something hard and his head was reeling. Up was down. Down was up. His lung were burning. He was burning. Burning. Burning. He screamed. Maybe. Then...black. The next thing Cinaed knew, he was facedown in damp grass, choking and coughing as he heaved water up out of his lungs. Small hands were holding onto him, one on his back and the other bracing his shoulder to hold him where he was, and a distant voice gently said, "Come on, lasair bheag. That's it. Get all that nasty liquid out of your lungs." He tried to ask a question but his voice hung in his throat as his lungs continued to struggle with the prospect of breathing. Cinaed heaved, puking into the grass, and he heard something that might have been a curse. Suddenly he was hauled up off the ground and dragged a few feet away, feeling his soaked clothing bunch and drag against his skin. He groaned as he was laid back down and his body gently rocked back and forth. "I know it hurts, lasair bheag, but we need to get the water out of your lungs. So just sit like this for a minute and breath for me, alright?" Cinaed just nodded weakly and felt one of the hands gently pat him on the back. "Good boy," his savior said and at that point he was finally mostly able to register that is was a feminine voice. After what felt like several long moments just lying on the grass, Cinaed slowly moved one of his arms and pushed himself up slightly from the ground. The hands came back then and helped him to sit up, supporting him as he swayed unsteadily. "Easy there, easy," she said gently as she helped him. "You're going to be fine, lasair bheag. All of the water is out of your lungs. We do need to get you out of these wet clothes." Coughing, Cinaed turned to look at her and found himself looking a face that was barely older than his own at fifteen years-old. Her features were thin but still baby fat, her dark hair plastered to her head from the water. At first her eyes looked just dark in color and then he realized that they were a dark, dark blue as she leaned closer to look him right in the eyes. "Focus on me," she commanded, her tone firmer than someone of their age range should be. Even his half-brother, Darcy, wasn't that confident and a lot of the Wolfe's were already talking about how great a hunter he was going to be. He did obey the command, looking her in the eyes until she nodded firmly. "Good boy," she said as she leaned back. "Eyes are clear and focused." Then her hands were on his shoulders and she continued, "Let's get these wet clothes off so you don't get a chill." "Wh-what about you?" he stammered nervously. She smirked and then said, "Look at me, Cinaed Hancock. Look clearly. Look for what your father's kin would have you look for." "H-How do you know my name?" he asked, eyes wide as they flicked over her features again, this time automatically looking for the signs he had been taught. Her strength. Her confidence. The weight of age in her eyes. Cinaed let out a breath then and closed his eyes, focusing on how he had been taught that he could personally identify a vampire by one of the other heavily witchblood Wolfe's. By reaching into the core of his magic and then out, letting the magic touch them and tell him what it could about them. He was still new to the ability but she patiently just...sat there. Looking at him as he focused. Cinaed let out a long breath and then felt his awareness expand, magic surging awkwardly out of his body to touch hers. As soon as it did, he gasped and opened his eyes to stare at her. She was...old. Older than her age. But not...she wasn't a full vampire. He could feel that the tainted sensation in her, same as the one he had felt in the vampire that had been brought in during his training with several other youths of the same age in the clan but it was weaker. "You're blood cursed," he finally breathed. "And I...about three hundred years old?" "Very good, lasair bheag," she said with a smile and he finally registered that she was Irish. Like him. She had been calling him little flame the whole time. "Now before we continue this little conversation...clothes, please." Nodding, he tugged his shirt off and she took it, walking away to drape the soaking wet shirt over a nearby rock. As he got his shoes and jeans off, she said, "You can keep your dignity, kid. The boxers won't kill you to keep them on wet." Cinaed could feel his cheeks burning bright red at that comment but she didn't seem bothered at all. And why would she be? She was several hundred times his age. He awkwardly folded his legs underneath him, tugging at the ends of his boxers to make sure they didn't ride up, and then waited until she crouched back down in front of him. "You're still bleeding a little," she murmured, reaching forward to brush his hair back. Cinead flinched as something pulled on his scalp, hissing in pain, and she apologized. "Sorry, but I need to look. I think you hit your head good while in the water, lasair bheag. I can smell the blood." He froze at that comment but she didn't seem bothered, continuing to brush his hair aside gently. After a moment, she said, "Clean cut. It looks like the water washed anything out of it and your hunter healing has already stopped a lot of the bleeding. What a blessing, that old ritual to bring you lot up to par with bloodsuckers, isn't it?" "Y-yeah, I guess," Cinaed replied nervously. He then frowned and asked, "Why...why are you helping me?" She smiled and settled back onto her heels, looking at him in amusement. "Because," she said slowly, "Maeve Hancock asked me to keep an eye on her only grandson when her daughter agreed to let him go live with his father's clan nine thousand miles away. And I have always done whatever I could to keep your family safe." "I...Gran?" he said, highly confused. Who was this woman? This blood cursed? Laughing, she commenting, "God, but you do remind me of Cahir, lasair bheag. He always was a stumbling mess when he was confused at your age." Then she held her hand out towards him and said, "My name is Niamh O'Connell and I'm technically your great-great-great-something aunt given that I was Cahir Hancóc's adopted sister." Cinaed knew his history, clan and sect, because it was one of his passions. Even as a child at home in Ireland, he had spent hours in the library at Dún Másc, reading over the old histories and records to the exasperation of his mother and his gran's delight. He had stumbled across mentions of a oath that had been made to a hunter, Marie of the Smith clan, and that her daughter had been adopted by Rohan Hancóc after the hunter's torture at the hands of Cael Ward. Her daughter who was the birth sister to Darien O'Connell - formerly Bloody Ó Conaill - and Damon O'Connell, both of Issuru's bloodline. He had thought it was just a story. Mom had said it wasn't real, that of course their family hadn't adopted a blood cursed. "Fuck," he breathed, staring wide-eyed at her. Niamh O'Connell tipped her head back as she let out a full belly-laugh and grinned widely at him, showing off her fangs. Shorter than a full vampire's but definitely fangs. "Oh, yes," she said warmly, "you've stumbled into more than a few family secrets by nearly drowning, lasair bheag." Cinead nodded slowly and then asked, "So...what happens now?" Shrugging, she replied, "We wait for your clothes to dry out and then walk back into town, where I drive you back to your clan in my Jeep. Say that I found you at the edge of the water and helped you out." "You're going to drive me back home?" he repeated, staring wide-eyed at her. Was she insane? Did she have a death wish? Niamh smiled and said, "Oh, I've been playing cat-and-mouse games with your clan and others for a very long time. Don't you worry about me, Cinaed." She then settled back fully onto the ground, sitting cross-legged like he was, and continued, "And I'll give you my phone number for if you ever need anything. I'm here until you get back home to your grandmother, alright?" "Okay," he replied, nodding slightly. Cinaed then flopped back onto the grass, staring at the sky, and let out a little hysterical laugh. "I nearly died, didn't I?" A hand gently patted his shin and Niamh said, "You almost did, lasair bheag. But I was there and you didn't." Nodding, he closed his eyes and breathed, "Thank you. Auntie." She laughed softly and patted his shin again. "You're welcome, great-great-great-something nephew."
lasair bheag - little flame (via Google Translate)
Timeframe: 2013
Location: Outside of Canberra, Australia
Event: While out with his half-siblings in the Wolfe clan, Cinaed Hancock falls into a river and nearly drowns when he's caught in an undertow. He then is pulled out by an exceptionally strong young woman, who he discovered is Niamh O'Connell - a blood cursed who was adopted by his ancestor and was asked by his grandmother to keep an eye on him.
Consquences: Cinaed Hancock discovers secrets on his mother's side of his family that he has to suddenly start keeping from his father's side of his family.
The product of a brief fling during a hunt between Daniel Wolfe III, a hunter, and Bridget Hancock, Cinaed grew up between both of the worlds he came from. Living first in Ireland with his mother and then Australia with his father, he has trained as both witch and hunter. Though he also, of course, has secrets that he keeps - mainly the existence of one half-cursed by the name of Niamh O'Connell, who was adopted into the Hancock family by his own ancestor centuries ago.
The younger sister of Darragh and Daman Ó Conaill was hidden from the world for a long time, adopted by Rohan Hancóc after her mother came covered in blood to his door. Despite being blood cursed, Rohan raised her as his daughter and his children by birth also saw her as such, a trend which has continued to present day - though only some of Cahir Hancóc's descendants still acknowledge her. While she does think of the Hancock sect as her family, one day she hopes to still be able to reunite with her brothers.
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