Twelve Months to Midnight

Sam asked me last week if Saint Patrick had been a wizard. I’m tempted to have Archives look into it, but it’s hard to come up with a valid reason to make an official request. He certainly wouldn’t be the only spellcaster in the early church, and he had the staff and the robes and the big grey beard. The truth is that the Church and the world of magic have always been inextricably connected. I don’t know if Jesus was a real person and there’s certainly no evidence of any smiling benevolent gods above or pitchfork-wielding devils below, but some saints were undoubtedly spellcasters and some of their miracles were spells I’ve seen performed many times. Saint Finbar, the founder of Cork City went on a pilgrimage to Rome in the 6th Century and came back with a Vampire in tow; probably the first to visit Ireland. That vampire styled himself as an archbishop and has been living under a hill in Cork for almost fifteen hundred years. In that time, he’s only left Ireland a handful of times. If ...

It is true that werewolves change on the full moon. But a newly-turned werewolf will change just about every night, and sometimes even during the day. It takes years of training and practice to quiet those urges to the point where turning is a voluntary process and where they have full control of their mind and their actions in their wolf form. But once a lunar cycle, they have no choice. No matter how disciplined they are, whatever primal magic fuels their curse can’t be denied under the light of a full moon, and nothing short of dawn, silver, or cold iron will reverse a transformation. But the elders can retain their minds and sense of self even during this time, and their control keeps the rest of the Pack in line. Family Life Wednesday, March 16th, 9:21 AM The Gardaí had finally located the Pack for me and so Cormac and I drove out to Blessington the day before Saint Patrick’s day to pay them a visit. They had chosen a halting site surrounded by tall pines and accessed by a short d...