Seduced by My Childhood Sweetheart’s Brother
Chapter 1

1- Wine and witches

Ba

I pause for a moment to adjust my uncomfortable high heeled shoe. It’s black to match my waitresses‘uniform which I honestly replace to be too provocative for what is supposedly an upscale restaurant. Sexsells I guess, not that I would ever let a customer touch me that way.

Borderline is one of the few places in the city that allows both normal customers and Magies, sodespite the long hours, barely adequate pay and uncomfortable uniform, It is perfect for me as one ofthe only places that will hire someone who is marked but has no marketable magic skills.

Like all children, I was tested for magic when I was only a few days old. Since my specific bloodline isunknown and my magic is unidentifiable, I was marked with a delicate swirling pattern around my upperright arm. While labeling everyone according to their species might seem concerning, it actually savesa lot of lives.

Most species have weaknesses that are much easier to avoid if they aren’t shoved in your face bysome oblivious person who has no idea the damage they’re causing. I don’t know a lot about the marksthemselves, only that they are applied magically and that everyone has one unless they are onehundred percent, normal human.

Normal humans make up about fifty percent of the population in big cities like this. Some magics areeasy to identify. Shifters inherit their abilities from their parents, so they are marked as Shifters frombirth on their arms with varying marks depending on their individual species.

Witches and Sorcerers also inherit their power from their parents and are easily identified. People likeme however are harder to categorize. I was left outside the hospital for magical beings when I was only

a few hours old. After days of tests to confirm I was not any of the known species but that I did in facthave magic. I was marked as an unknown.

Now that might sound all cool and mysterious but believe me it is not. Humans and Magics. don’t tendto get along all that well. No humans will accept me because I am marked as a Magic, and no Magicswill accept me because I don’t fit in with any of their groups. I can’t even replace any other unknowns inthis city as most people get their marks adjusted as soon as they are old enough to identify theirpowers for themselves.

1- Wine and witches

My life is not so easy. I do have magic, just as the tests showed, but it has never lined up with anyknown Magic species. For this reason, I have been unable to get my mark adjusted. This might not bea problem if my magic was something dramatic and powerful that demanded respect, but this is not thecase. I can’t breathe fire like a dragon Shifter, or hex people who piss me off like Witches.

I can’t make potions like an Alchemist or seduce people like a Succubus. Now I don’t mean to beunappreciative of the power I do have, it’s interesting and all, but it just really doesn’t pack much of apunch and most of the time it is just pretty much useless. My special magical skill is the ability to seethreads of fate.

Now when people think of the threads of fate they always think of the red thread that is meant to tiethem to their destined soul mate and blah blah blah. Yes I can see them. But there are other threadstoo, in different colours with different meanings.

There are blue threads connecting people which seem to represent that the pair are fated to be friends.This doesn’t mean they won’t have other friends or anything like that. Just that those specific peopleare destined to meet and that they will become close friends eventually.

Another thread is the black one. This one shows up between people who are fated to be enemies. Itend to avoid people who display too many of these threads.

If someone has a lot of fated enemies they probably aren’t the kind of person I want to be aroundanyways. Occasionally I come across other threads, but I don’t always know what they mean, andsince I don’t exactly have a guide book with colour coded charts I have no idea. how to figure it outunless I plan to stalk people and their friends and figure out the relationships between them all.

I suspect that green threads are for fated mentor/mentee relationships. I often see them connectingyoung people to old, students to teachers or children to grandparents.

The only other thread I am fairly sure of is white. I rarely see people with white threads, and when I dothey tend to be doctors, fire fighters or other do–gooder types. My best guess is that they are fated tosave the people they are tied to with white threads.

I see these threads constantly and it is a confusing mess, all the threads twisted around each other.Sometimes people mix up their blue threads with their red threads and end up in

relationships that are doomed to fail. A lot of people have only one or two threads, or sometimes noneat all. No one ever has more than one red thread though. One soul mate per person, no need to begreedy.

My saving grace is that I don’t see the threads between people unless the two people are fairly closeby each other, say a few blocks maybe. I don’t know if I can see my own threads. I never have before,but that doesn’t mean anything. I might not have any, or maybe I have never been close enough toanyone for my threads to be visible before.

I’m fairly sure that everyone has a red thread, even if they haven’t met the person yet. I can also tell ifthe people whose fate is predicted by the thread have already met. If the thread is light and floaty likeit’s caught in a breeze, I know that they have not run into each other and solidified the relationship yet.If it is more solid and the thread is tight, I know that they have.

Now this might sound like a cool ability. It really isn’t that great. Fate knows what it’s doing and doesn’tneed any help from me, so basically all I can do is watch the threads and judge people silently forthings they don’t even know exist. Aside from being pretty useless as far as abilities go, it is also prettydistracting. It’s hard to pay attention to someone’s face when you are busy staring at the shiny threadsthat are trailing off from their hearts which no one else can see. For the most part, I try to ignore them.As I am a bit of a social reject, most people don’t go out of their way to interact with me when they canavoid it.

Because of the threads, I have a bit of a reputation at work as a daydreamer. The sleeves of my worktop are long which cover my mark. The swirling patterns in my mark are supposed. to represent thethreads of fate, there are three of them in red, black and white. The mark is actually quite pretty but it isnothing compared to seeing the real threads.

Still, at work I keep it covered and as long as people don’t look too closely at me, I usually can pass foran ordinary human which makes serving human customers far easier than serving the Magics whotend to be stuck up towards humans. I have rather pale skin and I am quite average in height andphysique.

My hair is straight and long, down past my waist. It is a dark midnight blue colour which most peopleassume is dyed but upon close inspection it is clear that I never have any regrowth or anything like thatbecause it is in fact my natural hair. My matching eyebrows are another clue. My eyes are also blue butthey are so pale that most people think they are

colourless.

If I didn’t have pupils I would probably look completely blind. They make people uncomfortable as theylook a bit unnatural. It is for this reason that I have developed a habit of staring at the floor when I greetcustomers. This might be a problem in a human establishment, but in a place where Shifters and otherMagics frequent it is almost expected as a way to avoid any confrontations or battles of dominance.

I did try wearing contacts a few months back but I found them too uncomfortable, besides, it would betoo expensive for me to maintain.

A throat clearing behind me jerks me from my brooding and I almost stumble as I turn on the spot in myhigh heels. I definitely lack the grace that some Magics are naturally blessed with. I cringe slightlyunder the glare of my shift manager Anthony. I must have paused longer than I thought. I straighten myback and grab the tray of dirty dishes I had placed down a minute ago and continue on my way to thekitchen to swap it for a tray of food to deliver to

table twenty.

I am just placing the last glass of wine down in front of a coven of Witches who are in the middle oftheir monthly ‘girls night‘ when I notice for the first time, a blue thread drifting gently from my own chest.I slip with the glass and accidentally spill a little wine. Luckily the Witches are already sloshed enoughnot to notice my blunder. I subtly wipe away the spill before hurrying away from their table.

I trace my eyes along the thread. It is leading out the door of Borderline and out onto the street. I acheto follow it and meet whoever it is attached to. Due to my odd marking I have never really had any goodfriends, at least not since I was a kid. A fated friend

is pretty much my dream come true.

For a moment, I consider ditching the last couple hours of my shift and going anyway. But it is aSaturday night and we are only halfway through the dinner rush. I would lose my job which I reallyneed.

I take a deep breath and remind myself that the thread means it is fated. I will meet and befriend theperson eventually, even if I don’t go searching for them. I resign myself to waiting and hope that theperson doesn’t take too long to meet me. I’ve been lonely for a long time.

Aside from having no real friends, I don’t even date. In fact the idea is laughable. Even if

1–Wine and witches

there were someone willing to date me, I can see that there is no red thread between us

which basically means the relationship is ultimately doomed.

Even worse, I can see their actual red thread which means I know who they should be with.

No, dating is definitely impossible. I will just have to wait until my red thread appears.