My Vampire Assistant

I was right to say that eventually supernaturals would be better integrated into the society. What I didn't expect is for that eventuality to happen as soon as it did. I expected to wait a few more years before the supernatural police department I predicted to be created would be made, but no.

It took a different amount of time in different countries, and I was proud to know that mine was one of the first ones. In the beginning of their existence, these organisations mostly dealt with the most gruesome crimes, where no one could protest that the culprit was in the wrong. Murders, kidnappings, and so on. When the so-called Supernatural Investigation Department first appeared, journalists and the fiction creators both became very busy with speculating about its work.

It was quite a sensation on TV, too.

With it came new regulations and laws, more and more of them as the time passed. Just like there needed to be created laws and regulations for cyber-security after the creation of Internet, there needed to be these… and they were already a few thousand years late.

Witches like me, for example, now needed a license if they wanted to sell magical items or services, to ensure that they at least somewhat knew what they were doing. I say "somewhat", because the test they came up with could've been passed by an amateur who studied the subject for a month. I hoped they would make it harder in the future, but until then, I had my license.

Vampires were hit harder. The government banned all forms of mind-affecting abilities used without given consent, though the usage of glamour with the intent of hiding their nature was still legal. For many, it meant a lot of problems with getting their food.

Thankfully for these people, vampires became fashionable long before they became known. In vampire-themed nightclubs, there were plenty of people who wanted to try out the pleasure of a bite. Then, there were more serious private blood trade facilities, where people came to sell a right to bite them for a hefty sum.

Next to the happenings like these, news that my old friend Rita, with whom we, sadly, lost a lot of connection when I descended into the supernatural world, got herself pregnant and married some guy, was so normal it was jarring. I wished her happiness, domestic bliss, and love if she didn't have that until now.

As for JJ, he didn't need anyone but me to feed on ever since I learnt how to use animals' blood and Earth's life force to regain my lost blood in a matter of minutes instead of days. The spell was originally invented to help people with severe blood loss and, like any healing magic, wasn't intended for repeated use.

But that's what was the main greatness of being an arch-witch. There was no need for me to think about long-term consequences of using magic, because for me, there wouldn't be any. Unlike for my teacher…

When we first met, he looked younger than I was. Three years later he still looked younger, so I was surprised when Ghost asked me to assist him in a rejuvenation procedure. When I asked him why would he need one, he replied with, "That's all in my skin. My skin is fresh and young, but some of my inner bits—not as much. I rejuvenated them only when they started to wear, to diminish the need for it. Now I found that my good old spleen is a little too old to be that good."

"So we will be only healing your spleen?"

"That was the plan, but now that you are here, my student, I feel like we should make a few touches here and there. My joints started to ache a little on rainy days, and you know how many rainy days there are in this city!"

A big number, that was. "You are always so spry, it's hard to think that you are actually an old man on the inside, teacher… Well, I'm here to help. I will be just assisting, right?"

"Yes. You learnt a lot, and I am most proud to see how far you went, Diana, but doing a complicated procedure like that on another witch is cranking the difficulty of it sky high." Ghost patted me on the shoulder. "You feelers are good, but not good enough yet."

Ah, my feelers. To be fair, I didn't practice with making them as much as I could, instead studying other parts of the healing magic. It's not like I often had to heal witches, anyway. Even if I had my license, usually I didn't heal anyone, because my profession was an antiquarian! Healing was just something I had to learn to not die in sixty years. It was a fascinating subject, and very useful, but not my main profession.

It was good enough that I learnt how to make feelers at all. After practice, I could make three at once and make them as thin as a finger, but next to the hair-thin feelers that Ghost made, they were like a stone axe next to a laser cutter.

I took in a deep breath to calm down my sudden jitters. The rejuvenation procedure was something we commonly talked about. I knew all ins and outs of it by now, in theory. How to move away the wear and replace it with the good stuff that you needed to live healthily. In theory, you could modify your body to not get old on its own, but it was much more complicated than just fix it up, required a lot of experimentation and time, and was just implausible for someone who didn't have centuries on their hands.

It was much easier to, say, change your face to be prettier. Yes, that was why Princess Sofia looked so inhumanly beautiful. From the word of mouth I also learnt that she was physically much stronger and faster than a human, too.

But Ghost just wanted to live forever, and it was in my power to help him. I looked at him again. That bright smile, that soul, innocent and clean as a baby's. No, better. Children could be brats, but Ghost was a pure cinnamon roll. There was no anger in him, no hatred, no envy. So what if it was only because he accidentally brainwashed himself into it? He was the best teacher one could wish for.

"I'm ready to help," I declared. "What will we need?"

Ghost had everything prepared already. He had an assortment of amulets made just for that, each holding an aspect or two he would need for the procedure. It was more convenient than buying a pig's spleen every time, I supposed, and thought if I could do the same instead of buying animal blood.

After all, as long as you didn't pull the aspect out of an aura entirely, they would restore itself in time. Aspects were renewable, unlike oil. Maybe that meant that one day they will become an alternate power source to rival solar and wind energy.

The rejuvenation procedure itself was simple enough from my point of view. I was just assisting, making sure that Ghost wasn't pulling in or out anything he didn't need to. In the beginning of my study under him, when I assisted, I had to ask him every time whether the aspects he pulled were the ones he wanted to, but now I could judge for myself, too.

I still asked, though, because he still had much more knowledge and experience than I did. And it was his body.

With my feelers, I could observe the procedure from closer up, though there was only so much I could tell apart with how thick they were. Ghost's spleen did look worn up, especially compared to the rest of his body. But the rest of his body was in different stages of youth, too. His hair was white, I realised, not because he rejuvenated it wrong, but because he never bothered to rejuvenate it at all.

Though, for an old man's hair, it was awfully thick and lustrous.

Bit by bit, Ghost healed the wear and filled his spleen with new life. Then his joints, then he moved to the few other places that looked older than the rest. The procedure took the entire day, without accounting for the breaks we had to make, and it was a good thing that Ghost warned me about it beforehand.

"Ah, it feels much better now!" Ghost exclaimed after we were done. He made several energetic squats and bends before stretching. "Like being young again. Ha-ha! Well, that's the point! Youths don't really appreciate what they have because they had never been old and frail. And good for them! You keep studying, Diana, and you will never have to find out how it feels when your joints ache."

I hoped so. Yet, rejuvenation wasn't a simple process. So many things could go wrong, especially when you did it for the first time, without practice… And it wasn't my only concern.