Excerpt: A Piece of Her Heart

Their world was not like our own. They lived on a dual sun planet. They had races that only those who were of the non-Human world knew about. There was an unknown ruling force for their universe, which only a few knew about. It was the kind of knowing that if one spoke a word of it to someone who was not to know, it would be the signing of a death sentence.
There are humans. They were boring and basic. Every-one knows about them.
There are Vampiric Humans. They were allergic to the sun, and had fangs. They, unlike their Full Blood Vampiric cousins, did not need blood to survive. They also did not possess the strength of their cousins.
The Elven Humans were almost ethereal in their beauty. They both were tall and slim. Both male and females were of similar size. Males were usually taller, but on average, only by a few inches or so. They were more fragile than most normal humans were.
The governing world of the Spirits Council, which most of the humans, including Vampiric and Elven, knew not a thing about. They were clueless on the existence of them.
The unknowns are also the Magickals and the Faeries.
The Magickals keep the Faeries under control. There are two types of Faeries: The Good and The Bad. The Good usually, for the most part, work with the Spirits Council to keep the The Bad under control. There, like in any society, are those that claim to be The Good but working for The Bad. The Spirits Council does the very best that it is able to keep that to a minimum, but nothing is ever completely done away with.
The Faeries, no matter Good or Bad, are fiercely loyal. They will kill for those they care about, whether the one they care about is wrong or right. Faeries also have the choice of going Good or Bad. They have the option of switching sides, easily, and usually without too many com-plications. If they are forced to “go after” the ones they previously worked for, they are able to pull back and use previous obligations as the reasons, but if are found to feed information to the other side, they are immediately killed, no questions asked. A few have died under false information, but it was a price to be paid for switching sides.
The Magickals are usually humans, including the Elven and Vampiric. Around the time, they turn sixteen, they will either develop magical powers or they do not. If they do, they are taken to special schools to learn how to control and use their magic, along with train to become part of the Spirits Council “army”. If they do not develop any powers, then they do not enter the special school. At times, this can and does cause problems for families if one child develops the powers required and another does not. The one that does not is not to know anything about the Spirits Council nor why their sibling is going to a special school and they are not. The most common excuse is that the Magickal child is having problems at the school and needs special lessons, or whatever is needed to be said to make the non-Magickal child not feel not included.
The Magickals that are deemed strong and fit are used as “foot soldiers.” The strongest and toughest are sculpted into the perfect assassins. Some assassins ended up switch-ing sides, which can make for a very dangerous opponent, but one that the Spirits Council assassins are used to deal-ing with.
Other Magickals were used to help protect the humans. The Faeries, as the Magickals were told by the Spirits Council were jealous of the humans. They were always of the same size, and did not have to deal with any of the problems that the faeries have to. As most anyone knows, though, most things are not done out of jealousy but for other reasons. The Spirits Council just has decided not to share the real and true reason with the Magickals and eve-ryone else who happens to be involved with the ongoing conflict.
There are a few select few Magickals who are chosen to be molded to become future leaders of the Spirit Council. They are chosen at a young and tender age. Some are be-cause of who their family just happens to be. Some are chosen because of their achievements. Some are chosen because their family greases the pocket of certain members to guarantee a place for their child. As with all systems, there is a way to corrupt it and there are those who are willing to do whatever they must to get what they feel that they deserve or what they desire.
Along with developing magical powers, Magickals’ bo-dies also begin to slow down the aging process. At sixteen, a Magickal will look sixteen, but at forty-six, that same Ma-gickal will look to only be about twenty-six. The average age for a Magickal to die at, from old age, is around three hundred.
When they find the Mate of their choice, they are able to share the ability to slow down the aging process. There is one major downfall to doing so, though. The person, no matter how the relationship works out, will retain that ability. There are also a maximum number of times that it can be shared. No Magickal has yet found that exact number in the recorded histories of the Magickals.