by G. Bailey
"You should never run from a wolf. I will always find you," a deep voice says behind me. I glance over, seeing Jaxson standing with his arms crossed at the door to the training room. He has no shirt on, showing off the impressive chest from all the training. His jeans are hanging low on his hips, and I bet he hasn’t got any boxers on.
"I wasn't running," I say with red cheeks and turn fully to face Jaxson. He smiles as he walks over to me.
"A shame, I like to chase you," he says.
"You always catch me in the end," I whisper as he smirks.
"Yes, I always will, lass," Jaxson says and slides his hand into my hair. I let him pull my head to his and press his slightly warm lips to mine. I run my hand up his chest, loving being so close to him.
"How are you?” he asks when we both break away. I stay in his arms as we talk.
“I’m fine,” I say.
He looks at me. “I’m calling bullshit on that, lass.” I shrug, and he continues, “I know you’ve been focused on Atti, but you just found out about your true family.”
"I’ll be better when I find the strength to talk to my mum about this all," I say.
"There’s no rush, I have ten wolves watching her constantly, and Dabriel has a light angel watching her, too. She’s safe for now. If anything happens, we’ll bring her here and explain everything," he tells me.
"She’s not my biological mother. I doubt I have any relation to her at all. My mother was a half goddess and half demon. What the hell does that make me?" I say, hating every word, but it's all true. She can’t be. The demon king’s last words to me are running through my mind. Did he kill my real mother? His daughter? It makes no sense.
"I know," Jaxson replies.
"I'm quarter goddess, quarter demon, and what human side I had, is now vampire," I say. I'm sure he came to the same conclusion as I did.
He nods, "I agree, the human half of you was turned, but the rest of you couldn't, because it's too strong.”
I’m half vampire in a way, but I’m more than that. I guess I have always been strange. I never got sick as a child. Not even a cold. That should have told me that something was up. It’s funny how you make excuses about weird shit in your life until you have to face the problem. I think I’ve always done it. My mother doesn’t like the winter months, but she named her daughter after them? The dreams; I should have guessed from those alone. "I’m complicated," I mumble, and Jaxson laughs.
"That sums you up, lass," he smirks down at me. “Harris and his mother wish to speak to you as soon as possible. I’m not sure what it’s about, but she is a good woman.
“It’s about some books on the goddess. Katy told me her mother knows some things.”
“Anything we can learn could help us,” Jaxson says.
"Can we go and see my mother tomorrow? Atti might take us, or we’ll drive," I say. I know I have to get this over with.
"I’ll take you," Atti says, stepping out of the shadows of the doorway and walking over to us.
"You alright, man?" Jaxson asks. Atti shakes his head, his eyes never leaving mine.
"I’ll take you to your mother, and then we’ll make a plan to take my throne back," he says. The challenge is clear in his eyes; he wants to know if I’m on his side.
"I'm at your side, always," I say, and he nods sternly before he disappears. "Atti has changed," I mumble as I watch the doorway where he once was.
"Don't think too much on his grief. I can understand it, and he will be okay in time," Jaxson says, reminding me that his mother and father are dead, too. That he also lost his sister and brother. When will the men I love stop losing people? "You need to feed," Jaxson says. I guess he’s right, I haven’t fed in a week, and my teeth keep coming out. Normal food starts tasting bland after a while.
"Yes," I say, watching his neck, and he pulls me close to him. I don't refuse his offer when he turns his head to the side. I bite into his neck, and he holds me close as he groans.
“Winter,” he says, and I feel him pull my dress up as I hold his neck close. My underwear is ripped away, and his jeans fall to his feet just before he slides inside me. I let go of his neck to kiss him, and he kisses me back as he pounds into me.
“I’ve always wanted to have you in this room,” Jaxson says gruffly, and I smile for a second as he lays me down on the cold floor and shows me everything he ever wanted to do to me in this room.
Forty-Six
Winter
Atti holds me close as we appear outside my mother’s house, my old home. All day I’ve been fretting about coming here. About seeing her. Alex finally told me I needed to do this, and I asked Atti to bring me.
I only want Atti with me, and the others seem to understand that. I didn’t think about how this might hurt him, seeing my mother when he just lost his, but he didn’t refuse. I breathe in his flower-like scent for a second before turning in his tight arms to look at the house on the empty street. I first spot the car parked in front; it’s not one I recognise. The two wolves sitting in it, I do.
“That is not inconspicuous,” Atti whispers in my mind, as he must be thinking the same thing as I am.
The three-bedroom beach house looms over me as I finally look at it. Everything looks the same about the house I grew up in, the same white, painted, wooden decking surrounding the house. The same blue-panel, wooden walls look like my mum has painted them recently. The grey slate roof and the small, green garden at the front of the house look just like they did when I was a child. The back of the house has a large decking that leads onto a long path towards the beach. The beach is a little rocky, but it's nice to watch the ocean from.
Everything about this house is as homey as my mum. Yet it feels like a lie, and I feel like a stranger as I stand outside. I remember pulling my suitcase out to my car with my mum and Alex at my side. We both hugged mum goodbye and left with tear-filled eyes. She cried the day we moved out, she cried at every one of my plays at school. My mother does care about me, I know that, but I can’t help the anger I feel.
A flash of light from the bright sun hits a car as it drives by. It’s a nice day; the sea air fills my senses.
"I'm glad the whole vampire and sunlight thing is a fake rumour," I tell Atti, and he smiles.
"I think the garlic rumour is the worst one. I once filled Wyatt’s bedroom with garlic as a joke. He chased my ass around for a month after that. He got me back when he cut my hair off when I passed out drunk with the guys one night," he says with a slight smile.
“Did you have long hair then?” I ask.
“Yes, it used to be as long as D’s. I was growing it out when I met you but–” he stops as I look at him, his grey eyes swirling like an oncoming storm. I’ve never seen his eyes like this; it’s a reminder of how powerful he is.
“But what?” I ask as he stares down at me.
"Winter?" My mum’s voice comes from the house stopping Atti’s reply. I see her drop her bag and run to me, leaving the front door open. My mum has aged well, and she doesn’t have a wrinkle on her face like most women her age. Her blonde hair is cut short in a bob; she has little grey for her fifty-year old self. My mum has on three-quarter length jeans and a white top. She pulls me into a hug the minute she can. Her homey smell hits me, it’s like I can smell the home-cooked food and sweet perfume she has always worn. I hold her closer; I need this second of normalcy.
"You look different," she says as she pulls back.
"Not that much," I laugh, and she looks at me closely, too closely. I forgot about the changes in my appearance. At a distance, I look the same, but my mum is too close. She knows my hair wouldn’t behave this well, or my eyes don’t shine so brightly. I best make sure she doesn’t see my marks; she’d have a heart attack thinking they were tattoos. I remember when Alex got one done by her short-term boyfriend when she was sixteen. It’s an infinity symbol on her hip. It wasn’t a bad tattoo, luckily, considering she let her boyfriend choose it. Mum went crazy when she saw it; Alex was grounded for two mon
ths and had a list of stuff to clean every weekend.
"Who’s your friend?" Mum says, looking at Atti and snapping me out of the thoughts of the past. I can’t be lost in them anymore.
"I'm Atticus Lynx, the boyfriend," Atti introduces himself, and I realise I didn't know his last name. In fact, I only know Wyatt’s last name. I make a mental note to ask them all later.
"A boyfriend? You didn't tell me about this handsome one," my mom scolds me.
"There have been a lot of changes that we need to talk about, mum," I say. We both stare at each other, me watching her dark-blue eyes, and eventually she nods.
"You best come in then," she says and walks in the house. Atti links his hand with mine as we follow.
The inside of the house is a large open-plan kitchen to the left and the lounge has big French doors, so you can see the sea. There's a white, modern fireplace with a white sofa in front of it. Two white armchairs are next to the sofa, and there's a white dresser with a mirror by the start of the corridor to the upstairs three bedrooms.
"Would you like some tea?" she asks us.
"No thanks, mum," I answer.
"Two sugars, no milk. Thanks, Winter's mum," Atti says, and I smile.
"Oh, call me Daniella," she waves a hand at Atti who nods. I sit on the sofa with Atti while mum makes tea. She comes in and gives him his then sits in the armchair with her own.
"What brings you home?" she asks. It’s best to get straight to the point, I’m too angry not to. I’m twenty years old, and I’ve only just found out who my parents are. I should have known before. Especially because, in the world I’m from, not knowing information like this could get me killed.
"I'm not your biological daughter, am I?" I ask, and she turns white. Her hand shakes as she puts the cup on the small, white wooden table next to her.
"How did you find out?" she asks, a quiver in her voice that I hate hearing.
"Doesn't matter, but I need to know where I came from, it's important now," I tell her.
She looks down at her hands. "I told you once that I knew your father from university, you remember?" she asks, and I nod remembering the conversation at the castle when I had called her.
"When he moved onto my street a few years later, he had a two-year-old daughter. You," she says quietly, but I hear every word.
"I helped him with you at the start because he couldn’t find decent childcare. After that, I fell in love with him all over again and you as well. He never felt that way for me. Your father was in love with your mother, he talked of her all the time. Her name was Isa," she says.
"He never told me where she went, and he wouldn’t tell me anything other than stories of how they met, how you were born. Your father’s name was Joey Bloom, and your mother was Isa Bloom.”
“How was I born?” I ask her bluntly.
“Joey said it was in the middle of winter in Scotland. The coldest winter in years, and they were trapped in their house. That’s why they named you Winter,” she says, and I nod, unable to respond.
“Everything was quiet for two years, and then the car accident happened. I was looking after you, and Joey had left you in my care if anything happened to him," she says, looking down at the ground.
"So you adopted me?" I ask.
"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I just didn't know how. It was easier not to tell you the truth," she admits with a slight sob.
"Didn’t you think I had a right to know?" I ask, getting angry.
"Yes," she whispers and runs out of the room in tears. I hear her bedroom door slam shut.
"At least I know," I say to Atti. Neither of us says anything for a while. I angrily wipe away my tears.
"Go after her and tell her you love her, Winter. That woman brought up a child who wasn't hers, for a man who never loved her back. It would be a mistake for us to leave now,” he says, and I nod, knowing he’s right.
I go up the stairs, passing my old room as I go. I glance at the pink walls and the shelf full of trophies I won at singing competitions over the years. The awards in self-defence sit next to them. I push the door open and smile at the pictures of Alex and me all over the mirror. I was so happy growing up here; she was never a bad mum to me. I can’t imagine the position she must have been put in. I close the door and go to my mum’s room and knock.
"Mum." She doesn't answer, but I go in when I hear her moving. She has pulled a few boxes out of the cupboard and picks a smaller, black box out of it. Her room is simple with a small double bed, with blue sheets and matching blue curtains. The room smells like her, and it comforts me, despite the reasons we are here.
"Joey was a good man, but he would tell me all these stories of witches, werewolves, angels, and vampires. He even believed goddesses and demons existed," she says and sits on the end of her bed. I don't say a word as I sit next to her.
"I thought he was mad, but he was so sure they existed. In his will, he wrote me this letter,” she hands me a blue envelope. I pull out a letter; it’s old and slightly yellowed. The ends are creased like it’s been read a few times. I start reading, realising that this is my dad’s handwriting:
Dearest Daniella,
When we met in university, I knew you would be a great friend to me. Winter is so very young as I come back into your life, and I know if you’re reading this that our past has caught up to us.
Winter is half human; her mother was half demon and half goddess. Isa could do amazing things: control animals and make people do what she wanted with only words. She saw little of the future but enough to keep herself safe over the years. Isa could also call people into her dreams; she used to bring me into hers all the time just to see me. Even as I write this, and she is miles away from me, she visited me last night. I know she wants to visit Winter, but she won’t; she misses her too much, and she is still so young.
Isa told me her mother was a goddess, and she created animals. She could see the future of her line, and the humans worshipped her. She said a true goddess can live for thousands of years, and Isa was five hundred years old when we met. I know you won't believe me, but trust me on this. Winter needs to be trained, taught some self-defence for her future, and when the time is right, please show her this letter.
My sweet little Winter, the little girl who I just tucked into bed after reading The Princess and the Pea to for the millionth time, I love you.
I love you so much, Winter Isa Bloom.
The moment I saw your beautiful face in your mother's arms, I knew I would do anything for you.
Your mother loved you dearly, but I was scared of her power. I’m sure you will be as powerful as she was, and she would have done anything to be with you. You look so much like her.
Isa spent her whole life on the run from her father, and never really got close to anyone because of him. We were blessed with you five years after we met, and your mother was so happy. Your middle name is her name. Her name is also like her mother’s, Elissa. She thought it was nice to keep the name. She never knew her mother, as she died three years after she was born. Her protector was also killed many years later, but she escaped.
Isa said she loved me from the first time we met, when I knocked her over in a park. It’s also the last place I saw your mother, when I had to run with you and give you a chance for a normal human life.
Isa once told me a prophecy about you, a very old one that her mother said. She said every supernatural heard the prophecy when she spoke it, and now everyone is fearful of it.
They shouldn’t be.
You will raise them all up and keep them safe.
I love you, my sweet little girl.
Goodbye,
Dad.
I wipe my tears away as I put the letter down, and my mum hands me a black box. It’s smooth and deep; it’s also a little heavy.
"I could never open it, it had a note on it saying only you could," she says. I pull the lid up and it lets me, easily.
Inside is a crown, a massive white gem is held in the mid
dle, and the rest is a soft, silver colour. There are four little gems inside the twirls holding the main gem up. There are red, green, white and black. The crown is powerful, I can feel it, and it wants me to hold it. It’s like it’s connected to me.
The crown glows blue as I touch it, the power spreading over me, and I quickly move my hand away and snap the box shut.
"A crown," my mum whispers, watching me as I look over at her. I look at my hand; hell, my whole body is glowing blue. I guess the cat’s out of the bag, or more the glowing Smurf, in my case.
“Why did you change my middle name as well as my last?” I ask because I never had a middle name.
“It was part of your father’s demands, so I could have custody of you. I think it was another way of keeping you safe,” she says sadly.
"Thank you," I say and put the box down. I move closer to my mum and hug her, she doesn’t move to respond for a while, but then she slips her arms around me.
"What for?" she eventually mumbles.
"Being my mum, not leaving me when most people would have. You’re always going to be my mum; blood does not matter to me," I tell her. It’s true, it doesn’t.
"Oh, Winter," she sobs. I hold her close for what seems like a long time. When we break apart, I notice Atti by the door. Atti looks at the box on the bed and back at me, a slight crease appearing in his forehead. I wonder if he can feel the power of that crown, too.
"The things your father talked about are true, aren't they?" she asks, looking at Atti and then back at me. I simply nod.
"It's hard to believe that all those things exist," she says quietly, and Atti chuckles as he walks into the room. He stops at the pot of flowers near mum’s bed. Atti’s hand glows a little green as he touches the flowers and they start growing fast. He stops when the plant, which had one flower, now has dozens.
