by Jaimi Wilson
Sure, hybrids have been born without any real consequences, Jenkins and Josh can attest to that. But who knows when another birth of a powerful being will tip that precarious balance?
"I know what the risk is, Jasmine. I fear for her every day, but I just have to believe that there is someone out there watching over my sweet girl. I can’t bear the thought of her being hurt because of my being with her father."
I shake my head adamantly. "I won't let anyone hurt her, Harry. Just know that if the day ever comes that she needs protection from her own magic, I will bind or remove it in a heartbeat, if only to save her from herself."
Her eyes water at that and she nods. "I know you will. Just like I know that if something ever happens to me, you will take care of Ivy as if she were your own."
"Of course I would," I tell her.
“There’s one other thing I have to ask of you. If her father ever comes for her, I need you to kill him, do you understand? Do not let him get his hands on my baby girl. If he does, who knows what destruction he will bring with her at his side?”
I begin laughing wildly. “You mean the guy I cursed for you when you first came to me with your baby girl in your arms and tears running down your face? Yeah, I don’t think I’ll have any problem taking him out. Plus, this guy hasn’t been able to get it up for the past five years and I don’t plan to hesitate and force myself to deal with a sexually frustrated god, thank you very much.”
A short bark of laughter tumbles out of Harry before we both dissolve into fits of giggles. Once she’s able to breathe again, she grins at me from across the table. “To be honest I never thought that curse would even work. I just wanted the chance to make him suffer and figured it couldn’t hurt to try.”
I shake my head in amusement, drying my tears of laughter. “I think if I was a regular witch, my curse would have probably been ineffectual. But if he is the same kind of being as my grandparents, the same as I am, then I have confidence that my curse worked. Which means Ivy’s father is going to be one pissed off dude when he finds out I was the one to curse his dick so it couldn’t get hard with anyone but you.”
Her breathing stops at my words and a hand goes to her chest. She gets up quickly, her chair scraping back. When she meets my gaze, I see a wide-eyed panic in her eyes. “Sorry, Jasmine. I just... I need to be near Ivy right now. Come find me later so we can talk. I have so much to tell you and so much to apologize for. I love you, Jasmine. Never forget that, no matter what. You were my friend first and a job second.” With that, she turns and leaves the room in a rush, not giving me the chance to stop her.
After the door closes softly behind her, I turn to my father with an angry glare. "Right, you need to start talking. I want you tell me exactly what Harry’s job was. Also, I want to know everything about my mother and what she’s done. Anything she did out in the human world that she shouldn't have. No matter how insignificant it may seem, I want to know it all."
Fifteen
My father sighs and rubs a hand over his face as if he would rather be anywhere but here right now.
I continue to glare at him, refusing to let him distract me from this. I need to know everything my mother has done. Only then can I begin to fix what she has broken.
I know she can’t keep going unchecked like she has, but without knowing the extent of what she’s done, it’s hard to know whether it would be better to send her magic back into the earth or just kill her outright. Or I could strip her of magic and make her live out the rest of her life on the earth as a human? That could be a suitable enough punishment for her crimes.
My father gets up from the table and walks into the kitchen. I follow after him, taking a seat at the kitchen island while he starts pacing back and forth. As he does, his gaze keeps flicking up to me, seeming unsure of whether or not to say something. After a few minutes, my mates join us in the kitchen, sitting quietly at the island.
Finally my father stops pacing, fixing his gaze on me. "There are some things I can tell you, but not everything. Not because I don’t want to, but because I’m bound by your mother's spells. She’s made it so the only way I can talk about certain things is if the people I’m discussing them with are already aware of the subject. The only way to break those spells is with her death.”
My eyes widen at that revelation. I look to my mates, but they too look just as surprised as I am by this news.
I turn back to my father and offer him an encouraging smile. “Just tell us what you can and I will try fill in the blanks whenever you glaze over certain parts.”
“Alright then. I’ll just make us some tea while I gather my thoughts. There’s a lot you need to be aware of and I don’t know all of what I’m spelled from speaking about until I actually try to talk about it.”
I nod as my father moves about the kitchen making us tea, not coffee. Ugh, I already miss coffee and I’ve only gone day one without it. How long before I strangle one of them for denying me my heavenly coffee? Considering tea has caffeine in it too, I don't see why I can't just have some damn coffee? Stupid controlling men.
Part of me wishes this child were a girl, because I know any daughter of mine would give these men hell. But a son? Well, he'll probably end up siding with his father, or fathers as the case may be. I’m not sure what our relationship will look like exactly, but I know in my heart that each of my men will love this baby like their own.
And if they don't? Well, then I’ll kick their asses to the curb.
I've known about this little bun for just a little over twenty-four hours, and he’s already become my whole world. I would rather raise him alone than risk him being subjected to the same kind of loveless upbringing I was. I want him to know how much he means to me and if the men in my life don’t feel the same, then they don't deserve to be part of either of our lives. I know it’s going to be hard, but I don't want to be with someone who will just give up at the first hurdle.
I reach down and rub a hand over my stomach, surprised to find another hand already there. When the hell did that happen? I didn’t even feel his touch. I guess that's how absorbed I was in my own world. Either that or the lack of coffee is already starting to affect me.
I turn to glance beside me and see Benji's blue eyes looking at me intently, glassy with unshed tears. "We're not going anywhere, Jazzy," he murmurs, his voice thick with emotion.
I smile softly and place my hand over his. It feels amazing to be able to relax around my mates, trusting them completely to protect me and now our child as well.
My father interrupts my inner thoughts by placing a steaming cup of tea before me. I grimace at the sight of it, wishing it was coffee. I wonder if anyone would notice me using magic to turn it to coffee? A subtle cough to my left has me looking up to meet Jenkins’ gaze, who smirks knowingly at me. He shakes his head and looks pointedly down at the cup before me. I sigh in defeat, knowing it’s tea or no caffeine at all, so I move the tea closer and add a good dose of sugar and milk to it. Then I pick up the spoon sitting on my saucer and stir it all together.
As my father prepares his tea, he begins speaking. "When I met your mother, I thought the sun and moon revolved around her. There was a brightness to her that lit up the world around her. But whenever she got emotional, darkness would seep in, shrouding her like a cloak and making it feel like you would never see the light again. She never told me about her parents, but knowing what I do now, their identity doesn’t surprise me given her behavior.
"One thing I do remember clearly was your mother trying to take credit for the creation of all the supernatural races. She said she was the reason the supernaturals existed and that she would be the cause of their downfall. When I tried to get her to explain, she was vague, simply telling me I would find out soon enough."
He pauses to take a sip of his tea, before setting the cup back down. When he resumes speaking, he avoids looking at me, his gaze remaining locked on the cup. "After a year of being in her service, she discovered that I wasn’t just one
breed of supernatural, but two. Gaia thought it was fascinating that I could shift, but also had complete control over my magical abilities too, so she started testing me to see what I could do, and how much pain I could stand.
“After a few years of the experimenting, she decided to create her own hybrid. One with the properties of all three species. By this time, your mother and I had grown very close, so when she created her first Soldiers, she put me in charge of them. The problem, though, was that they were wild and unpredictable, with barely an ounce of humanity in them.
“One day, your mother assigned me to go on a mission with three of her strongest. But then, when they attacked their target, the bloodlust that controlled them became too much for them. That was how I died. The three who were responsible for my death brought me back to Gaia because they knew of our relationship. That was when she used her magic to bring me back.
“I woke up with a hunger so fierce that I tried to attack her. She fed me from her own vein, trying to soothe my bloodlust. It worked, but during the feeding things got a little, uh, well, let’s just say you were conceived that night.” He grimaces, a stain of pink spreading across his cheeks.
I chuckle at his aversion to saying the word. "Uh, I do know what sex is. You don't have to skate around the subject because you're worried about my sensibilities. After all, it took a lot of sex to conceive this little miracle inside me, or did you think it was somehow an immaculate conception? " I ask with a wry smile.
"You are my daughter, and there are some things a father just doesn't need to know." He turns to glare at Benji and Liam, as if he knows one of them is to blame for my current 'situation.'
I take a hesitant sip of my tea, waiting for more of his story.
"Anyhow," he continues, returning his gaze to me. "When you were conceived, everything changed."
I hold a hand up to stop him, something just occuring to me. I set my cup back down and ask him, "You were turned eight hundred years ago. But there’s no way I’m that old. How is that possible?"
All of my men begin to glance back and forth between my father and me, the implications of my question making the room fill with tension. I can't be eight hundred, can I?
My father fidgets where he stands, a nervous look on his face. "Well, technically, you're only twenty-four years old. But your mother carried you in her womb for well over seven hundred years."
I give one slow blink, my brain trying to process that revelation, but it's just not possible.
I go to voice my question, but Josh beats me to it. "What do you mean her mother carried her for seven hundred years. How the fuck is that even possible?"
"Well, she used the magic of the earth to slow your development in the womb. She told me at the time it was because she loved the feeling of you moving within her, but now I know better. With you inside her, your power was hers to control. It was how she had the strength to create a whole new breed of Soldiers.
“Now that I think about it, I have to wonder if the only reason I was so valuable to her was because I was able to help create you, Jasmine. Even before your birth, you were more powerful than she was. Yes, she was the daughter of the sun and the moon, but she had nowhere near your level of magic. Every time she tried to access any of the power she inherited from her parents, it was like it was somehow blocked from her.
“On the other hand, your power is like the sun, moon and earth combined, yet so much stronger. I like to think that something about me being a Soldier and a hybrid gave you that extra spark to fight off her control. The only reason she actually birthed you was because your magic eventually overwhelmed hers, and you started to develop like a normal fetus."
Benji clears his throat to get my father’s attention. "Okay, we get it. Jazzy is some kind of super being. Can we get back to the Soldiers, though?"
My father looks at me with a raised brow, as if asking if I mind. I give him a small nod, confirming that I too want to learn more about the Soldiers.
"The first Soldiers she created, before she had access to your magic, were a little unpredictable. She used them as assassins, to take out those she considered an enemy. And while the Soldiers were nearly unstoppable, they would also kill anyone else who got in their way on the mission. Whether they were witch, vampire, wolf or human. The first Soldiers didn't care about the value of life.”
He takes in a shuddering breath, his face pale as he recounts what the first Soldiers were like. "They served your mother loyally for the first ten years, killing anyone who stood in her way. However, then your magic started to change her. You started having a positive effect on her, something she saw as a weakness. She tried to drown your power, but you were too strong. So she decided to do something different. She thought to use your power to create a more lethal version of the Soldiers. Ones who would follow orders, but still had their humanity intact. People she could use to infiltrate the places she would never be able to get access to otherwise.
"Humans knew of our existence back then, but then your mother decided she didn't want them to have that knowledge. She started killing everyone who knew, leaving only those of the younger generations who hadn’t yet heard of us. Then the information was wiped from all recorded history, allowing us to fade into nothing but myth. To this day, I still have no idea why she wanted the humans in the dark, but she used those first Soldiers to kill any who knew of us. Then she sent the new Soldiers to destroy one of the supernatural races that denied to pledge their loyalty to her. The vampires."
My eyes widen in surprise. I knew the vampires were wiped out, but I always thought it was the Order who was responsible for their extinction. Hearing this, I begin to wonder just how many of our legends are false, misinformation to cover up my mother’s actions.
"What about the Order? Our history says they were created because of the vampires and the atrocities they did to the humans. Is any of that true?" Liam asks, his voice becoming a growl as his anger rises. Anger that is perfectly warranted, to be honest, and a feeling that I share with him. It’s fucked up learning that information we took for granted our whole lives was nothing more than a lie. All because of my mother.
"Ah yes, the Order. They were created not out of a desire to protect the races, but as an entity that could negotiate with Gaia. After she wiped out the vampires because they refused to pledge their loyalty to her as their supposed creator, she became enraged and started attacking indiscriminately. So the rest of the supernaturals came together to devise a solution. I'm sorry to tell you this, but the Order isn't some all powerful group of people meant to protect you all. They were just supposed to be an organization of elected representatives of each supernaturals group.
“When your mother first met with them, she demanded their allegiance. They refused, vowing that Helios and Selene would step in and stop her mad quest for power. They couldn’t have said anything worse to her, and so your mother acted. She killed a few of the people present. She gave them no choice but for them to swear their loyalty to her. And as punishment, or a gesture of good faith as she called it, they were to hand over the two vampires she had missed. Their time on earth was up, she had told them. The last vampires believed to be in existence were executed by her Soldiers right before my eyes. Recently, however, we've learned that some still exist and have been in hiding all these years, rebuilding their numbers in preparation. Then, when they’re ready, I know they’re planning to attack your mother.”
Interesting. I wonder if it’s worth reaching out to them? Maybe we can form an alliance and work together to take my mother out of play? Something to think about, at least. The more allies we have, the better.
Suddenly a thought crosses my mind. “What happened to the first Soldiers? The ones my mother created before I was conceived? Did she kill them after the new ones were made or did they just run off and go wild?” I ask curiously.
"You see the first Soldiers had a lust for blood like a vampire, the vicious nature of a wolf and a witch’s ability to sense other supernaturals. The
new Soldiers, though? The ones created with your magic, Jasmine? They still lust for blood, but they don't require it. They have the strength and enhanced senses of the wolves, and a small taste of magic. Nothing powerful enough to do much good, but enough for them to cast minor spells.
“Something about your magic made them more stable, more empathetic than the original Soldiers. That sense of humanity gave them enough strength to go against your mother’s orders when she told them to kill the vampires. The first Soldiers didn't have that luxury, though. If your mother issued an order, then that was it. It had to be followed to the letter, no matter the consequences. I believe that might be part of what led to them being so violent. They were angry about their lack of freedom and rebelled in the only way they could."
I'd be pissed too if I had no will of my own and no choice but to follow someone's cruel demands. I'd try everything I could to get free, even if it meant killing the one who made me.
My father smiles, seeing everything click into place in my mind.
"The Soldiers, her own creations, turned on her," I state, my heart aching for their loss, because I know my mother would have killed every last one of them for their betrayal.
He nods sadly before continuing. "Yes, after years of being used over and over with no promise of increasing their power like she had with the new Soldiers, they finally turned on her.”
I frown, sure I must have missed something. “But, how did they attack her if she had the ability to control them? I thought the whole reason she kept them around was because they were loyal, or at least as loyal as people with no will of their own could be.”