Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem

by Laura Greenwood

  "We watched you to see if you were some sort of supernatural being, another Unseen. Different species of Unseen have always intermarried, but children produced by the unions have been one species or the other. It depends on which species has the dominant traits. We’ve learned enough about science and biology from our human lessons to recognize that the Supay are always the dominant species, dominant genes."

  "So you think I'm some other species besides human?" I asked, the incredulity clear in my voice.

  "We thought you might be. That's why we watched you. When it became clear that you lived as a human, we needed to get closer. That's when I began to train you. I didn't expect to come to care about you. Being your friend wasn't a part of the assignment. It happened naturally, and I won't apologize for it."

  "You sure could apologize for betraying that friendship, though. That, you could well and truly apologize for," I replied, the anger fresh again.

  "I know. If you let me, when we get out of this mess, I'll find a way to make it up to you." His words left a tiny warm spot in my heart. I mentally stomped on that nasty little warm spot.

  "For now though, I need to go see if I can figure out exactly who the Junta sent to chase us. They've figured out that we've told you the truth, and they won't be happy about it."

  Elias pulled me over to an empty horse stall. "Hide in here for now. There shouldn't be many Supay here; there was a big party at the Collins’ house in Charleston this week. Most of the adults will be there." I stood, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. “The Collins are another old Supay family. I can’t explain more now.” Elias shut the stall door and motioned for me to get down. "Anthony or I will return as soon as we can."

  I listened to the creak of the barn door and crouched down. The hay was surprisingly soft and smelled fresh. At least he put me in a clean stall. I burrowed myself into the corner to wait. And wait and wait. I pulled out my gun to have something to do. I unloaded it and practiced twirling it like in an old western movie. Then when that got boring, I waited some more, until my eyelids started to droop.

  My mind drifted into a semi-conscious state, as I was too freaked out to actually sleep. I heard the soft sounds of the horses eating and padding around their stalls. I dreamed of my boys, my mind bringing up the images from the picture.

  The sound of the barn door opening and masculine voices broke through my dream. I jerked awake and rose to my knees. My gun was still in my hand, so I trained it on the stall door. Fucking hell. It’s not loaded. I had dozed before reloading it. I loaded the oiled gun quietly as I listened.

  "We had a tail, Danyelus. Someone knew we were coming and tracked us up the mountain. We tried to lose them by hiking in through the woods, but they followed on foot. I could hear them crashing through the brush behind us as we broke through the barrier. They’re probably still out there."

  A strange voice replied. "I know, Anthony, these are grave times. The Junta are accusing you both of telling the human woman our secrets. They believe you are plotting to return her children to her. Please tell me they're wrong and this is a power play on their part to undermine the authority of our last two male pure Supay."

  Neither spoke for several seconds. "We have no plans to return her children to her. The Supay belong together. They’d become rogue as they aged if they stayed in the human world with her."

  Danyelus seemed to take him at face value and didn't question him further. "Good man. I didn't truly believe you would betray us."

  The words unsaid hung heavy in my ears. Anthony hadn’t mentioned telling me the truth. And he didn't say anything about taking me to my children, just that they wouldn't take my children from the Supay. If they were truly vampires, they really would need to stay with their kin. I could understand that. As long as they let me stay too, I wouldn’t argue.

  Heavy footsteps fell past the stall where I hid. Anthony's eyes peered briefly into the stall, and then he turned, blocking the other man’s view of me. "Let's go see the children, Danyelus. I've missed them." I relaxed and sagged against the stall wall as their footsteps quieted.

  I settled in to wait for Elias to appear, but didn't wait long. I jumped and hid the gun as the face of a child peeked in. Black hair framed a perfect heart of a face. She was all chubs and cuteness with wide eyes, and a little rosebud mouth set in an O. "Who are you?" she asked.

  "Hello, little one," I replied. "My name is Riley. What's yours?"

  "I'm Jaime," she said, opening the stall door. "I'm six."

  "It's nice to meet you, Jaime. I'm thirty-two."

  She wrinkled her pert little nose."You're so young, Riley. How'd you get to be a grown up so fast?"

  My brow furrowed in confusion. "What should I look like at thirty-two?"

  "My brother Stephen is thirty-four, and mom says he's in his knees and elbows stage. He's skinny, and his voice keeps squeaking."

  Like a kid going through puberty. Oh my god, do vampire children age slowly? Why then do David and Daniel seem to be the appropriate ages? Do they mature slower as well?

  "What brings you to the barn, pretty girl?" I asked, hoping no adult would come searching for Jaime.

  "I love the horses. I take care of them by myself. My horse's name is Stardust, and he runs faster than any other horse ever has." Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she talked.

  "I'm sure he does. Don't you think your mommy will be calling for you soon?" I hoped not.

  "No, my mommy is gone. She died when I was a baby, and my daddy brought me here to live with Auntie Tammy," she said.

  I wondered if her mom was a human and if she was another child ripped from her mother's arms."What’s your daddy's name?"

  "Anthony," she said.

  A rock dropped into my gut. I didn't know why I imagined he didn't have children. For all I knew, he was married to a goddess with a slew of adorable little hellions. I knew squat about him, except that he had a jaw dropping face, a body that would require me to carry a wet floor sign, he was a pure Supay, and could calm people. Why I was disappointed that he was a father, I couldn’t say.

  A woman's voice floated into the barn. "Jaime! Come inside now, your daddy wants to see you!"

  Pure delight hit Jaime's beautiful face, and it nearly took my breath away. I was struck with a wave of sadness at my lack of a daughter. I would likely have no more children, not after what I’d been through. How could I bring another child into a world without Michael or my sons around me?

  She waved at me and took off out the door. I snuck to the entrance of the stall to watch her skip across the yard. She ran toward an enormous manor house, her raven locks streaming behind her.

  A shadow crossed the doorway of the barn. I scampered in the recesses of the closest stall. “Riley,” Elias whispered. My relief at hearing his voice was so strong, I bolted out and practically climbed him. He laughed and picked me up in a hug.

  "Its okay, Riley, you're safe. I've got you." My arms tightened around his neck.

  "I'm still so mad at you, but please don't leave me for so long again." I cried against him as I buried my face against the crook of his neck. "A little girl came in here, and she's surely going to go tell I'm out here."

  "Who came in here?" Elias untangled my arms from around his neck.

  "An adorable little girl named Jaime." I leaned my head back to look at him.

  "Oh, good. She's on her way to see Anthony, he'll smooth it over." Elias clutched my hands to his chest. "I hate hiding. I need to talk to Anthony. I feel strongly that we can trust Danyelus and Tammy. They're the only two adults here now. They have Anthony's daughter and son, your sons, and my son here with them."

  "Your son? You have a son? And this is something you decided not to tell me in four years of friendship?" I jerked away from him violently. "How many more secrets will there be?"

  "Riley, we're a small group of people. In a way, it's our duty to have children. If we don't each have several children, we begin to face extinction."

  I turned my back to h
im, not processing the new information well. "Jaime mentioned that I’m old for thirty-two. She said her brother is in his thirties and described him like a teenager beginning puberty."

  "When puberty starts, our aging process slows. It’s when we begin to crave blood. We have an extended life, Riley. If we aren't grievously injured, we could potentially live for thousands of years. Most Supay go insane long before that time and have to be euthanized, but it's possible."

  I shifted my gaze to him thoughtfully. "How old are you?"

  "I'm ninety-two years old. Vampires become adults at age sixty. Anthony, Michael, and I were born in the same month of the same year. Our mothers worked and planned to have us at the same time. The three of them were best friends and hoped we would be three girls, but Supay women are rare. Jaime is fiercely protected. She’s one of four female Supay children in the entire world. They’re not pure Supay, but female Supay are so rare it doesn’t matter. Any one of us would die to protect them.”

  I walked over to a bale of hay and plopped down onto it. "Okay, so my husband was forty years older than me, and I'll be dead by the time my sons are grown. What a great fucking day this has been." I curled my body up on the hay and rested my head on my knees.

  Elias sat beside me and pulled my curled form into his arms as I cried. "This can't be real. You still haven't shown me any proof. This has got to be some elaborate hoax. Please tell me my family is safe and none of this supernatural juju stuff is real?" I sobbed in earnest.

  Elias swayed our bodies back and forth. "It's real, Riley. I'm sorry to have shocked your world, but it's real. We’ll figure out a way to keep everyone safe and together, I promise. I already have a rough idea of how we might accomplish it."

  My mind couldn't bear more information. I didn't ask what his new plan might be. I just cried.

  "When can I see the boys?" I asked a few minutes later when my tears were spent.

  "Anthony should be bringing them out to play soon. We’ll watch from the bushes on the side of the barn. Then I'll leave you there to watch while I go let Anthony know that I would like to tell Danyelus and Tammy what's going on.” He turned his head toward the manor. “Actually, I hear them coming now."

  He peered out the doors of the barn. "They're coming. Let's go out the back, and I'll get you situated in the bushes."

  Chapter Five

  I sat in the bushes, mesmerized, my eyes glued to my sons. They were real, they were in front of me, and they were unmistakably my boys. I could see myself and Michael written all over them. Tears coursed down my cheeks, and I didn't bother wiping them away. The boys played soccer while tiny Jaime skipped around with a jump rope. Elias and Anthony conferred, then walked over to join Tammy and Danyelus, who watched the children from a small settee. They spoke for several minutes until Tammy and Danyelus grew visibly agitated.

  Danyelus yelled something, but I was too far away to hear the specific words. Anthony and Elias sat down beside them, pleading. The soccer game lulled as the young boys stared at the adults in confusion. The cat was out of the bag. How long should I sit here and wait? I wondered. The desire to hug my boys overwhelmed me.

  The children lost interest in the adults and resumed their game. The adults calmed, and I saw Danyelus nod his head. Elias jumped up and ran over to me, a blur as he crossed the yard. It was my first bit of proof that he was something more than human, and it took my breath away. I’d dismissed Anthony as having pulled a prank until I saw Eli move.

  "Eli! That was beautiful," I said.

  "Come on, Riley. It's time to meet your children." Elias held his hand out to me, and I let him pull me up. I stood behind the bushes for another second. The big moment was upon me, but it was difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Elias tugged on my hand. “It’ll be fine.”

  We trudged across the yard, my stomach in knots. I would’ve thought I would sprint across any yard that held my boys, but nerves made me reluctant. The children played their game and didn't even notice us coming. Danyelus and Tammy stood, but my gaze was glued to my boys.

  They laughed as they played keep-away from the other young boy. His golden hair and dimpled grin outed him as Elias's son. The other boys chased him toward me. The older two ran at half speed to let the younger two keep up. Anthony's son loped along comically, making dramatic swings of his arms like someone miming slow motion running. This is the thirty-four-year-old? I giggled to myself. This must be how the guys were as teenagers.

  They stopped short when they spotted me. Strangers must’ve been rare in their protected world. They clustered together and ogled me warily. Jaime glanced up from making a crown of daisies when she noticed her friends go silent.

  "Riley!" she shouted. She jumped up grabbed me around the knees in a ferocious hug. "I'm glad you stopped hiding! Come meet my Aunt Tammy!" She grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the other adults.

  I kept glancing over my shoulder at my children, but gave the adults my full attention when I heard a female voice. "Did you even think about how her presence could disrupt and hurt the boys? They can't go with her, and she can't stay here!"

  My stomach turned to lava. She was right. It became hard to breathe and tears filled my eyes. "I'm not here to interrupt their lives or upset them. I just want to see the children, and then we'll be on our way," I lied through my teeth, trying to stop the tears. Tammy's eyes softened.

  "I'm sure this is excruciating for you," she whispered. "But I've raised those boys for five years. Even though this isn't your fault, I must think of them first. Elias and Anthony did a reckless thing bringing you here. This will implicate us in a major breach of law."

  Tammy jumped as I reached out and grabbed her hand. "I'll only tell them I knew their mother and father, and I wanted to meet them. A quick visit, and then Elias and Anthony can take me home," I pleaded, and lowered my eyes in deference. "Maybe once in a while, if you can manage it, I could bump into you or… or come for dinner," I begged. "Say hi, see how they're growing. I won’t try to take them away, I swear. Please let me speak to them, even if briefly." I hungered for even a few moments with them.

  Tammy nodded her head and clasped my hand. "Boys!” They ran over dutifully, and stared at me with curiosity. “This is Riley. David and Daniel, she was a friend of your mother's. She’d like to speak to you and see how you’ve been."

  My sons stepped forward. David held out his hand politely. "My mother’s name was Riley."

  I looked at Tammy, taken aback. Her face mirrored the surprise on mine. I didn’t even think about him knowing my name or recognizing me. He’s old enough to remember me.

  "Yes, David," I said as I shook his hand. "It, uh… it was a big joke between your mother and me, having the same name. You remember my face?” He nodded. “I was around quite a bit when you were young. Your mother and I were very close." I turned to Daniel and got down on my knees.

  "Hello, Daniel. My name is Riley. I've wanted to see you for so long. Would it be okay if I asked for a hug?" I prayed he wouldn’t be too shy. I needed to feel him in my arms.

  Daniel smiled big and ran into my arms. "Oh goodness, Daniel, you give excellent hugs. I might need more before I leave, would that be all right?" He smiled and nodded.

  "Yesh, Mish Riley, that would be great!" He had an adorable lisp.

  The tears that I'd so valiantly fought finally fell as I clutched him in my arms. "I've missed you boys. I loved being around you so much before your father died."

  I released Daniel and turned to David. “You may be too old for such things, but do you think I could get a hug from you too?" David was embarrassed—his cheeks colored with a blush, but he stepped over to me anyway. I stood up and put my arms around him. He breathed deeply against my shoulder.

  "That smell. I know that smell!" he exclaimed. Tammy's head turned to us sharply, alarm on her face. "I remember you, Riley. I must've hugged you a lot when I was little, because I remember exactly how you smell." He smiled up at me with a distinctly Michael twist to hi
s lips, and my heart stopped. I had to force my words out. My stomach twisted with every lie.

  “I’m so glad to hear you remember me, David,” I whispered. I gave him a squeeze then turned away. David might start remembering more, and I didn’t want to hurt or confuse him.

  “Elias, Anthony, we should be going, don’t you think?” My voice betrayed me—I never wanted to leave again. I wanted to stay locked in the beautiful mountain prison forever, if it meant I could stay with them.

  Anthony nodded and came to put his hand on my shoulder. “Danyelus, we're going to use the gateway in the basement to avoid whoever is chasing us. Once we're gone call the Junta. Tell them what I’ve told you. Leave nothing out. I haven't given you any choice in these proceedings, and I won’t leave you implicated in our decisions. I won't tell you where we're going or why, and you don’t have enough of a force here to stop us.” He walked around me and clasped Danyelus, then Tammy in a hug. They gave me one more moment with my boys while they said goodbye to their children.

  “David, Daniel, I hope to see you again soon. I love you so much, and I'm glad I got to see you again. Could I have one more hug?” I knelt down, and they clasped me hesitantly. I wrapped an arm around each of them and relished in the contact with my long-missing children. It took every ounce of willpower in me to let them go and walk toward the manor.

  Elias took my hand, and Anthony put his arm around my waist, and we went inside. As soon as the doors shut behind us, my legs gave out. A keening sob ripped from my mouth. I was done, spent; I could handle nothing more. Anthony scooped me up in his arms, and I clung to him, my face buried in his shirt. The fabric grew damp with my tears, but I didn’t care.

  All I knew was that I was walking away from my children, this time of my own volition, and it was for their own good. How much more pain could my mind and heart take? When would I break for good? “Why can’t I stay?” The question was muffled against Anthony’s chest, but he understood.