imagining anything; the more your grandfather chanted, the lighter it became, until, after just a few minutes, the sun rose up from behind the horizon below which it had long since set.
“Within an instant the vampires began to catch fire. It was a terrible sight, watching them run around, screaming as they burned into little piles of dust. What made it all the more terrible was the part of me that relished in their suffering. They had hurt my family after all.”
“Was everybody okay?” I asked, desperate for the happy ending I knew was unlikely to arrive. “Except for the vampires I mean.”
“No, Charlie, they were not. Well, not at first anyway. For it was only after the vampires had been destroyed and the darkness of the night had safely been returned that your grandfather showed how powerful he truly was, for it was then that he began to heal the wounded.”
“Grandpa could heal too?”
“But of course, Charlie. Where did you think you got your own powers from?”
“I thought you said all Protectors had powers?”
“They do, Charlie, they do. But not powers like that. Well, not usually anyway. Humans cannot be trusted with the responsibility that comes from such high power. No, I fear that your power to heal is more to do with the wizard in you than the Protector.”
“So, do you think I have more powers?”
“Perhaps.”
“But why don’t I know what they are?”
“Well, you didn’t know you could heal either until recently, did you? It may be that you just don’t know how to activate them yet, or maybe you just haven’t needed them. Anyway, that’s not important right now, what’s important is that your grandfather could heal, or else even more people would have lost their lives than just the six that did so.”
“Six people died? Why didn’t grandpa save them?” I demanded, upset to have been robbed of my happy ending.
“Because he couldn’t, Charlie. He only had the power to heal the sick, not the dead. I suspect the same is true of you. He did everything he could, but for some it was already too late. It was a very sad day, perhaps the worst of my life.
“In hindsight though, without it your grandfather and I may never have been married, for it was his actions that day that lead him to finally become an accepted member of my people. From that day forward the fact that he was different no longer rendered him an outcast and instead made him a hero. Even those who remained jealous of him began to give him the respect he deserved and, over time, many of his former enemies became his greatest friends - particularly once he and I were married and he was no longer seen as a rival in the romance stakes.”
While I had enjoyed grandma’s story, I was beginning to wonder what all this had to do with The Professor and the watch, as you no doubt are too. Well, I’m pleased to say that, just as I was considering raising the issue with my grandmother, she finally came to it of her own accord.
“We lived happily together for many years, awaking each day in a new place, seeing the entire world without ever leaving our own home. It was a truly magical time. But I’m afraid all good things must one day come to an end, and our end arrived six months after I gave birth to your mother.
“The tribe had arrived at a small village on the outskirts of Romania to find it completely decimated. Houses had been burned to the ground and bodies were strewn across the streets. Unfortunately, it was not an isolated incident. While we personally had never seen such sights before, there were stories of similar things happening all over the East. Until that day though, most of us had considered them to be fables and scare stories made up to sell local newspapers and deter travellers- who many people disliked. Your grandfather, though, had always held suspicions that there may have been some truth to the tales.
“It seemed as though no living thing could have survived such merciless brutality, but,
“Within an instant the vampires began to catch fire. It was a terrible sight, watching them run around, screaming as they burned into little piles of dust. What made it all the more terrible was the part of me that relished in their suffering. They had hurt my family after all.”
“Was everybody okay?” I asked, desperate for the happy ending I knew was unlikely to arrive. “Except for the vampires I mean.”
“No, Charlie, they were not. Well, not at first anyway. For it was only after the vampires had been destroyed and the darkness of the night had safely been returned that your grandfather showed how powerful he truly was, for it was then that he began to heal the wounded.”
“Grandpa could heal too?”
“But of course, Charlie. Where did you think you got your own powers from?”
“I thought you said all Protectors had powers?”
“They do, Charlie, they do. But not powers like that. Well, not usually anyway. Humans cannot be trusted with the responsibility that comes from such high power. No, I fear that your power to heal is more to do with the wizard in you than the Protector.”
“So, do you think I have more powers?”
“Perhaps.”
“But why don’t I know what they are?”
“Well, you didn’t know you could heal either until recently, did you? It may be that you just don’t know how to activate them yet, or maybe you just haven’t needed them. Anyway, that’s not important right now, what’s important is that your grandfather could heal, or else even more people would have lost their lives than just the six that did so.”
“Six people died? Why didn’t grandpa save them?” I demanded, upset to have been robbed of my happy ending.
“Because he couldn’t, Charlie. He only had the power to heal the sick, not the dead. I suspect the same is true of you. He did everything he could, but for some it was already too late. It was a very sad day, perhaps the worst of my life.
“In hindsight though, without it your grandfather and I may never have been married, for it was his actions that day that lead him to finally become an accepted member of my people. From that day forward the fact that he was different no longer rendered him an outcast and instead made him a hero. Even those who remained jealous of him began to give him the respect he deserved and, over time, many of his former enemies became his greatest friends - particularly once he and I were married and he was no longer seen as a rival in the romance stakes.”
While I had enjoyed grandma’s story, I was beginning to wonder what all this had to do with The Professor and the watch, as you no doubt are too. Well, I’m pleased to say that, just as I was considering raising the issue with my grandmother, she finally came to it of her own accord.
“We lived happily together for many years, awaking each day in a new place, seeing the entire world without ever leaving our own home. It was a truly magical time. But I’m afraid all good things must one day come to an end, and our end arrived six months after I gave birth to your mother.
“The tribe had arrived at a small village on the outskirts of Romania to find it completely decimated. Houses had been burned to the ground and bodies were strewn across the streets. Unfortunately, it was not an isolated incident. While we personally had never seen such sights before, there were stories of similar things happening all over the East. Until that day though, most of us had considered them to be fables and scare stories made up to sell local newspapers and deter travellers- who many people disliked. Your grandfather, though, had always held suspicions that there may have been some truth to the tales.
“It seemed as though no living thing could have survived such merciless brutality, but,
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