by brett hicks
As a girl I read about Captain Ahab’s obsession with the white whale. This might be different, but Kimiko of Kyoto was my white whale. She had become my own personal obsession. A fierce passion to know why!
Why had I been abandoned, and why had I been left to defend myself as a sixteen-year-old girl? Why had my own mother forsaken me in this dangerous era of supernaturals. This time where humans watched us with an uneasy fear. They waited for us to slip up, so they could pounce, justifying whatever dark machinations their fears made manifest.
Righteous anger bubbled up from the depths of the darkest part of my soul. None of us seemed to make it to adulthood without some darkness creeping into us. Mine was only provoked further, by discovering that I could have been safe, and I could have been loved.
After everything she did, why burn her cover and announce herself to the world, just to save me? Did she love me at all? Or, was this just out of some misguided ego, because her blood had been enslaved by a vampire?
All I had were questions, and no answers. Not even my love wanted me to find my answers. Even though I seemed to be handling it all well, I couldn’t help but to be slightly cross with Rachelle on these matters. She should know how deep the impact a mother’s identity can have on an orphan.
Not many know her true story, the one that unfolded long before most Born immortals in existence walked the earth. Back when she was the ill-gotten offspring of a Scottish girl and an English Lord. She was raised in the squalor of filth, whilst her half-siblings lived like lordlings, and ladies. They might not have meant to teach her political maneuvering, or to cause her to educate herself in their libraries, but Rachelle built herself up from the filth her father had left her in. That was, until her oldest half-brother returned after ten-years absence, changed.
Ellison had saved his sister from their father, and he changed her a few years later when plague threatened to take her. Ellison had seen her suffering, and he had remarked in her quite resourcefulness. He saw his sister has his most prized ally. Even now, he calls her almost daily, checking up on us. I had met him under the worst of circumstances. I had never realized that he was blood-kin to someone, not until lately. Not until I saw Rachelle in her unguarded moments with her brother, meeting on his ancient enemy’s land.
Loathed as I might be to admit it, Ellison is not evil. Though, I did still enjoy shooting him with an energy blast and knocking him across the street when we did meet. In my defense, I never met the man, just the vampire clan leader. They are two different people, from everything I have observed.
The point, why can she actively deny me knowledge of my birth mother, when she knows how precious blood can be?!
I love her, but her fierce protectiveness can be very infuriating at times! Most of her family were English tyrannical snobs! My mother is apparently the boggy-succubus, so what?! I still need to meet her, even if she is deadly. Hell, if she wanted me dead, she had her chance! Why the hell should I just shut up and forget about her?! Besides, someone must teach me how to blast people to death. That little trick might come in handy, in case someone does come after me again!
Rachelle eyed me with a quite observation. She seemed so worried these days, like I was about to leave her. She seemed to be sure that something would destroy the bond between us. Like she had something to fear from my mother, or from whatever I might learn. It was already obvious to me, they had shared history, one Rachelle was not going to talk to me about.
In the end, the truth will have out!
Two:
Lyra was studying a handwritten translation of the first third of the druid codex. Rachelle had been slowly translating the texts from ancient Gaelic. I noted that she didn’t seem all to motivated to translate the entire thing. That might put her out a job, and her translation skills were currently her only leverage in this situation. We had officially been taken into the pack. There was a full-moon ceremony and everything. We even ran naked through the woods. It was a very interesting experience.
Most shifter gatherings seemed to turn into a clothing, or human form optional occasion. They seemed unburdened by the stiffness that the vampire clans, the succubi, and the fae all shared. Shifters seemed to just go-with-the-flow. Don’t mistake this for lax security. I had seen them toss out many a prying element. Some, they had shipped back in pieces—literally!
Like at the club, Lyra displayed a ferocity that she never apologized for. She wasn’t just an alpha, she was the alpha of alphas, otherwise known as an Apex. Both her title and her burden. Lyra was Born, just like me, except her parents had been human. Human enough to throw her out on her head when she turned furry for the first time. She spent several years on the streets or crashing in any sympathetic person’s garage. Most of her friends had abandoned her the moment word was out about her being a shifter. Worse still, the shifters all wanted her for their own reasons. She was a young fertile apex. That was not so different than my being a young ripe succubus-hybrid. Powerful female sups have it rough, especially until we have irked out our own place in this immortal life.
The world can be a very brutal place, even for humans. Tac on about five-thousand percent to that, and you are halfway to the danger female sups face.
“Mel how goes it?”
Lyra asked without even looking up from her codex reading.
“Fine, a little light reading before breakfast?”
She looked up and her intense chocolate gaze leveled me. Shifter magic roiled through the room, as if on command. I knew that wasn’t her doing, Lyra just had power in spades. It was massive moon-sized miracle she and Rachelle had yet to get into a pissing match—well, a real one!
“Just trying to get my head around a fraction of this crazy druid speak. They remind me a lot of the pompous assholes in lab coats who see the entire world as their lab experiment!”
I nodded, and I grabbed a plate and headed to the stove. Lyra had stacks of pancakes and bacon. My mouth was already watering.
“Want some food for that thought?”
I smiled at the cheesy, nerdy joke. I was proud of it, even if it only elicited an eyebrow raising from Lyra. Rachelle rolled her eyes as she came up besides me. She was a very hungry vampire this morning—not that I had any blame in the matter!
“Mel, we desperately need to get you out more.”
I huffed a breath. It stung to remember that I had been unceremoniously fired from VCU. Rachelle was helping me switch my graduate studies over to University of Richmond, which was a much better school in all honesty. It was ivy league, even though most people only seemed to focus on the northern ivy schools. Apparently, I was nerd enough to make their acceptance. I didn’t however, have a job teaching undergrad English anymore.
Being an English professor was one of my dreams. I wanted to write books of my own too, but I loved teaching! There was always something to do and always student drama to solve. Besides, it was fun to discuss geeky things in a safe environment.
Despite Richmond being the capital of the modern world in everything supernatural, most of its schools still rejected any Born to admittance. They make us register our type and parentage when we are outed. After that police detective raised a huge fuss, I had been cornered into registering myself. I had been reluctant to put down succubus, but Rachelle and Lyra ensured me that it was for the best. I didn’t mention my possible vampire father. I just claimed to be a broken version of a succubus.
That only seemed to put me further on the police radar. I had noticed a few plain-clothes detectives trailing me almost daily now. (They really think they are blending in too! It’s sad when a twenty-five-year-old English grad student can tell she is being tailed!)
To sum it up, life sucked as of late.
“Yeah, yeah, I have class registration later this month. Until then, it’s Starbucks and home for me.”
I sounded sulky, even to me!
“Babe, I know things are tough, but it will get better. Please, trust me. We live long—if not indefinite—lives. This is on
ly the beginning for you. You could still look this gorgeous in six-thousand-years, like your mom.”
I whipped my head around and my hazel eyes were wide in shock. My mom was six-thousand-years-old!?
“Rach, she’s that old? Tell me, what else do you know?”
Rachelle closed her eyes and sighed. She looked somehow exhausted.
“Please, Mel, trust that I am only trying to protect you now. I shouldn’t have said that. Mel, just for now, please leave it be. It is much too dangerous for you to dig into anything involving Kimiko. Here name has heralded the destruction of all she has ever held dear. Danger will follow you, and so will other sups as word reaches them about your blood connection to her. Just for now, please baby, please trust me!”
Rachelle had a pleading note in her light-brown eyes. I sighed, deflated. This was not the face of my villain, rather the pleading look of my love. I bit my lip and I reached over and gave her left shoulder a tiny squeeze.
“For now, but not forever Rach.”
Rachelle nodded, and her features softened further.
“Good, please just give me time. Besides, you are being followed constantly. The last thing you need, is for anyone to find your mother.”
Lyra growled a bit and I turned to look at her.
“Care to share with the class? Or is growling all you wanna do?”
I chided the apex shifter. She eyed me with caution.
“The vampire is right. You will end up dead if anyone links you to her. You’re lucky the rest of my pack was out of ear-shot of Kimiko back when we rescued you. Only my alphas know, and they love you. Not even I could protect the daughter of Kimiko.”
“What does that even mean?!”
I trot over to Lyra and stared down at her sitting form. I could see a swirling light of power rush through her irises. Her eyes seemed to glow red for a moment or two. I had seen this before, this was apex magic. This was something that happened when they were really agitated.
She practically ground out, as if the words tasted foul in her mouth.
“Trust your girlfriend, loathe as I am to give such advice.”
I nodded, still reluctant, still very frustrated with all the damn secrets! I had my mind made up now. I needed to talk to my other mother now. I needed to hear what she had to say. Whatever might be going on, I am not going to completely abandon my pursuit. Kimiko was more than just my mother, she likely held all the answers. If for no other reason, then because of the age of her. If Rachelle was to be believed, she was as old as the Biblical first man and woman!
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this, but I saw Rachelle’s face when she spoke to me. She wasn’t lying, or else I didn’t know her at all! I would like to think that I have managed to map out a lot of my girlfriend’s facial tells in the past two months. After all, Rachelle watching was my favorite past-time!
This issue with the flow of information was but one problem. I looked at Rachelle and I crossed my arms over my chest.
“What happened with that vampire last night? The one form the concert, any idea why he started snacking on the crowd?”
Rachelle’s eyes seemed to glow faintly with her vampiric power. Something chilly washed over my skin. It was a welcome feeling. Being half vampire myself, her power was a pleasant feeling to me. I could just close my eyes and bask in her icy aura, if only this was not a serious conversation. Rachelle’s thick lips drew into a tight grim line.
“Not the first clue. No information has surfaced involving blood craze. That was what his behavior seemed to indicate, however, he showed none of the other signs of having been starved for an extended duration.”
She looked past me to Lyra. Something dark passed between them, unspoken. They were trying to “protect” the damsel in the room, again! I groaned and shook my head slowly.
“You two sure do team up on me a lot, considering you both claim to hate each other on a daily basis.”
Rachelle rolled her eyes at me. Her voice took a slight chastising tone.
“Babe, I do not hate your best friend. We just seem to have many differences of opinions, that is all.”
Lyra nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, hate is a strong word. I would prefer to describe our relationship as a mild allergy. You know, something you can solve with over-the-counter meds.”
Rachelle huffed in indignation at Lyra’s quip. The two could be like oil and water, or they could be almost in sync. As much as the feline shifter apex was loathed to admit it, Rachelle had proven to be a firm ally. Rachelle had earned respect in the pack already, and she helped keep unwanted vampiric elements away from the shifter territory. Let’s face it, besides me, no one was excited to run in to a master vampire like Rachelle. She exuded a deadly aura that could nearly eclipse even Lyra’s apex power. (I would not be placing any bets on that fight!)
“Well, I could always go to PetSmart and find you a special shampoo. That might cure your allergy issues.”
Rachelle sounded a bit more mocking than was usual for her. I looked up and spotted the beginnings of a ghost of a smile on her lips. It was like an invisible knife had sliced through the tension in the air. Lyra was not a hothead, despite what most people say about shifters. She was a calm kitty. She was ever plotting and weaving. If I didn’t know her animal to be a massive cat, I would think she was a spider. Lyra loves to spin her own little proverbial webs, and let her enemies get tangled up in them.
“More like she should start vetting the strays she takes to bed.”
That was Jaden from the sink. She snickered at her own joke. Lyra growled at her playfully. Not that anyone short of an alpha would consider her growl playful!
“You live in a glass house wolf. Just you remember that, before we start tossing more stones.”
Lyra quipped at Jaden. Jaden waved her off playfully, but I saw her shoulders slack a pit. There was a story behind that exchange, and I was going to have to remember to ask about it later!
We all were brought out of our conversation by the sound of the doorbell ringing.
“Apex, it’s the police.”
I heard a mild but masculine voice from the living room. Lyra’s throat rumbled with her annoyance.
“What now?! Coming, just let me answer it John.”
I walked into the living room behind Lyra. I could see the large masculine form of the homicide detective I had talked to two months ago, he had come back for some reason. Nothing was going well this morning. We would soon find out what new crinkle the human law could put into our day.
Three:
Samson Adrian Clarke stood imposingly in the door with his muscled arms crossed. He was handsome enough for a human man, enough to that Lyra had drooled over him during their first encounter. At least, until he opened his mouth. He didn’t look any less threatening on this visit. He trots in the door, ignoring Lyra.
“Melony Toyo, I have a warrant for your arrest. Turn around and face the wall please.”
His gruff voice shook me. My mind seemed to have gone on a hiatus at the mention of arrest. Rachelle stepped in front of me. Her icy power roiled through the air. She was about to pull the life from their very beings with her energy. His hand moved quickly to his weapon and the two figures in blue and grey uniforms came in with weapons already drawn.
“Step aside Jameson! I have a valid arrest warrant!”
Rachelle lifted her chin and her whiskey eyes narrowed to deadly slits.
“Under what charges? I happen to know that Melony has never committed a crime in her life.”
Thank my stars that one of us was not dumb-struck! Rachelle didn’t even spare the two uniform cops with weapons trained on her a single glance. It was like her body language screamed, “I could end you all in less time than it would take to breathe.”
“Attempted murder of Henrietta Long.”
Rachelle hissed at them, one of the nine-millimeters cocked back, ready to fire.
“The girl from the club?! Melony saved that girl’s life! There we
re hundreds of witnesses there at the show!”
Samson Clarke puffed out his chest a bit and shook his head.
“No one has come forward to substantiate your claims.”
Lyra snarled at him and I spotted about five shifters approaching the cops on her lawn from behind. They didn’t care about badges, or uniforms. Only that these men were pointing weapons at their pack! I didn’t have time to be helpless and voiceless. The reality of the visceral scene about to play out galvanized me into action.
I stepped forward and pulled Rachelle behind me.
“I am innocent, but I see no reason why we cannot sort this out down at the police station. Rather, than allow things to escalate here, in pack land. I will come with you Detective, peacefully. You will back up and walk back to your car with me now. Before you antagonize my pack into something that will trigger their protective instincts.”
Detective Clarke took another step forward and he grabbed my roughly by my left arm and threw me back against the front wall of the house. I barely had time to make a sound, before I suddenly felt his body weight leave me.
I turned in time to see Lyra with the Detective. She held him by his neck from behind.
“You come onto my land and you accuse my friend of crimes she didn’t commit! Your jurisdiction ends at the end of Hilliard Road. This is registered packland! My packland! I shall not allow you friend to be handled and hauled off like a common thug. You will leave now. Our lawyers will be in touch.”
She tossed him out the door, into his two friends. The pack members encircled them, waiting only for Lyra to breathe a single command. They might not all love me, but I was pack now. They never turned their backs on pack., neither would I turn my back on them. It was the real reason I had agreed to go peacefully in the first place!
Clarke took a large step forward to re-enter the house. This time, Rachelle was in his face. She was a stark contrast to Lyra’s nova-hot rage. She was all frigid vengeance and calculation. The air around us seemed to dip in temperature. Rachelle had many tricks up her sleeves as a master vampire. She had mastered them all too. I still didn’t know where this metaphysical cool stopped. She had never shown me the extent of this icy power. From everything I had heard, she bordered into the realm of elemental, in her control.