“Tia—”, she began, a fake or maybe even real tear coming from her eye. Only I refused to let her finish.
“How could you? Were you not concerned for her, even a little bit? Damn, Mom, did you even think about her? My Goddess, what kind of a mother are you?” I gave her a look of sheer disgust; I couldn’t even recognize her right now. “You may not be able to dream-walk like Dad can, but there are so many other things you could have done as a witch, especially one as powerful as you. You could have astral-projected, called up a vision, something, anything. She’s your daughter.”
“I was too afraid.”
Wow, did that actually sound like the truth?
“Afraid of what, Mom?”
“Afraid that any magic I used would be traced back to her, or from her to us. I couldn’t risk Sundiata finding out.”
“Wait, wait, wait. So all of this was just so that you could keep your seat on the throne?”
“No! It was so you could keep your seat on the throne.”
“But that seat isn’t even mine, as I have no true blood tie with the king! Or did you forget that tiny little tidbit?”
“I didn’t forget a damn thing, young lady. But you are only going on pure assumptions, you don’t know the full story.”
“You are so right. But I’m standing here trying to get that full story, which I do believe I’m long overdue for.”
“I think we need to sit down for all this, and maybe grab a drink.”
“Fine, but I don’t need anything to drink right now, just answers.”
“Honey, the drink is for me.”
We made our way to the sitting area, and everyone sat as far from one another as possible; me on the couch, Mom and Dad in plush velvet chairs across from said couch, spread far enough apart to set another couch in between.
“Tia, I am nothing like you, or either of your sisters. I’m weak. Not magic-wise, but in other ways that count so much more.
“I loved your father, your real father, more than any other male I had ever known. First as nothing more than a friend, until it grew to be so much more. But, as you are well aware, our two species aren’t exactly known for getting along. Needless to say, your grandmother, my mother, wasn’t the type of person you could defy and expect to get away with it, or even expect that you would live to tell the tale.
“I kept my feelings to myself for many years, even knowing that your father also felt the same for me. I knew the only reason he held back was out of sheer respect for me and no other reason. Then your grandmother was able to arrange the marriage with Sundiata, effectively making me the high queen of the Underlayes witches. And let’s get this part straight right here and now, that was not something I had strived for, or wanted, ever. But I didn’t have enough of a backbone to say no. And I certainly didn’t have the nerve to go against my own mother. I was even younger than you are now, only twenty-five, and had never even so much as kissed anyone yet.
“So I went ahead with your grandmother’s plans with no regard to what I wanted. At that time, I had no idea what it was I wanted anyhow. No, that’s a lie, I knew exactly what it was I wanted, and who, I just also knew there wasn’t a chance in Hel’s domain that I would get it. We were wed, but at first we were anything but happy. But witches live for up to five centuries; plenty of time to at least learn to tolerate each other. It wasn’t until thirty years later that I became pregnant with you and your sister.
“I had gotten into a horrible fight with Sundiata, and ran to your father. We never meant for anything to happen that night, but when the sparks began to fly there was no holding them back any longer. It was like a dam that had been just waiting to burst, and we finally we gave in and let it.”
“Okay.” I had to stop her right then and there. Yuck, much? “We can skip all the gory, disgusting details on that part. Hit the fast forward button or whatever—let’s just spare my ears, shall we?”
She rolled her eyes at me, like she was five friggin’ years old. She could have held them at the top of her head until they got stuck there for all I cared. No way was I listening to that. I’d been through more than enough already, thank you very much.
“Do you want to hear the story or not, young lady?”
“I sure do want to hear it, but only the necessary parts. All those other little tidbits, you can either keep to yourself or you and Dad can discuss them amongst yourselves, alone, without me being in the vicinity, or anywhere within listening distance.” I gestured “go ahead” motions with my hands. Had these been any other sort of circumstances, she’d probably have been slapping me upside the back of my head by now. But these weren’t other circumstances, so I planned on pushing it to the limit.
“Anyway, when I learned that I was pregnant, I panicked. I suspected that the child I carried did not belong to my husband, but I didn’t know for certain until your grandmother had that vision. I didn’t know until then that not only were there two of you, but that you did not belong to Sundiata. You have to understand, there is no tolerance within the witch community, especially among the royals. To be pregnant with someone other than the king’s child would have been tantamount to treason. I would have been executed, and he would have declared war with the vampires. I had to prevent both of those actions in order to protect you and your father. So the plan she cooked up seemed like the most brilliant idea in the worlds, at that time.”
“For the record,” my dad chimed in after having not said a word in so long I’d almost forgotten he was even there, “my people would have gladly gone to war, and would have taken your mother in with open arms. She decided not to go that route and to listen to Mommy Dearest instead.”
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, your grandmother recruited her best friend for help with her plans. Reigna was an even more powerful seer than she was, and more importantly she was the librarian of the archives, including all the prophecies. The first thing they did was to cloak the fact that I was pregnant, until I could conceivably say it belonged to the king. Once they had seen that not only were there two of you, but that one of you would show signs of your true genesis at birth, well that was when everything else was set into place, and the decision to separate the two of you was made.”
“And you had no qualms about it?” I asked. I couldn’t help it.
“Of course I did. But don’t you see? I didn’t have a choice! I love the two of you, and always have. If the truth had been found out, they would have killed you both.” She said that last with so much vehemence that I could almost feel her anger to the point of forgiving her. Almost.
“What about Dad’s plan? You had other options.”
“And what if that plan didn’t work? Huh? What then? I wasn’t willing to risk that.”
“You knew all along that in the long run we would both show signs of being vampires. Don’t even try to deny it ’cause everyone’s running around here saying they thought they had more time before I transitioned or whatever. For that thought to be out there, everyone must have known it was inevitable that it was going to take place. So what was your game plan for when that happened?” This had to be good, so I was glad I was already sitting down.
“As I said before, we were trying to ensure your seat on the throne. Mother had seen you not coming into your vampiric powers until after your thirty-first birthday. By that time you would already have wed Bran, and according to the ‘prophecy’ you would have been more powerful. What wasn’t included in the prophecy was the fact that King Sundiata was going to have an untimely accident, therefore guaranteeing your seat on the throne. By the time the truth was learned, your sister Elyssia would be of age to take it. And as much as we already knew that girl would love you, she would stay any execution that might have been called for. Problem solved, everyone happy, and your grandmother would still have all the power she could ask for. Now…”
“Let me help your mother out with that one. And now her plans have gone all to shite.” Dad was more than happy to chime in on tha
t one. “Now both of you are in an even hotter mess than ever before. I’m quite certain dear old Mum didn’t even think of any other outcome than her own mother being right, and didn’t bother putting up any safeguards, nor setting up any sort of contingency plan. Hmmm?”
“No, but I’m sure you did, didn’t you, Mr. Perfect?” she shouted towards Dad. Turning back to me, she said in an almost pleading tone, “Tia, I fucked up in more ways than I can count, and I am so sorry. I was wrong, and made all the wrong decisions—I know that now. And no matter how much I wish I could go back and choose differently, I can’t.
“And back to you,” she said to my dad. “If you’d kept your juvenile delinquents on a damn leash, the plan just might have worked. That foolish stunt they pulled sped up the timeline.” She was practically seething. I worried for a moment that she was about to throw a spell at him, or jump across the room and slap him.
“Can we back that train up too?” I had been dying to ask about this one. “Why did that have anything to do with it?”
“Your father here hasn’t had a chance to explain Fated Ones to you yet. Just as with the werewolves, vampires also have one fated mate they are destined to be with in this life and every one thereafter. Only with the wolves, there is no other they will ever want or need. With vampires it’s completely different; some describe it as more romantic, others think it’s utter bullshit, and it’s the reason some species—especially the witches—think they are fickle beings.
“A vampire has only one true Fated, but their being together does not always equate to there never being anyone else. Some choose monogamy, others do not. They still remain with each other, and beyond committed to each other, but it isn’t only the two of them. What they choose depends on the couple; in the end, the only thing that matters is that their Fated is happy with whatever decision is made.”
Dad took over the explanation. “And that, my little one, is what Chandler is to you. Vampires dream of their Fated when they are still younglings, drawn not only to be with them, but to be around their bloodline if they have yet to be born. Something in them needs to be around their Fated in some way, shape or form. He and your brother Darvyn are the same age, and became instant friends in school, inseparable ever since. When I brought your sister home, they were both present, only twelve at the time, which for a male vampire might as well be five. Chandler ran over to Anya, happy as can be until he smelled her. ‘She looks right but wrong, and she stinks, what’s a matter with her?’ I knew then it must be you he was truly looking for. So did your brother.”
“Okay, so even if he is my Fated or whatever, how did that trigger anything?”
“Because of the two of you finally meeting, and on top of that you must have ingested some of his blood, even the tiniest drop during the kiss I heard about. Being in the state that he was in would have left some blood exposed, and when you placed your lips on his, we believe it triggered the vampire side of you to come online, wanting to be near him.
“I believe that was just the beginning of a series of events that escalated the timing of your True Turning. Your vampire side was also highly likely to have been feeling as though it needed to come online to protect you and keep you safe. But as some people like to place all the blame on me…”
“You know what? The blame game the two of you keep playing has gotten so old it’s molded up and stinking so bad I’d like to throw up. You want my honest opinion? You both suck ass, but Mom, you suck it even more than Dad. Dad, you just suck because you took the coward’s way out. Instead of fighting her over going along with such a hair-brained, bullshit-ass plan, you just grabbed a kid and kept it moving. I give you credit for at the very least keeping tabs on me, and yeah, maybe it is a bit selfish of me to want you to be willing to go to war for me, but again, yeah, I wish you had. Because guess what? Looks like we’re headed down that road anyway.
“Mom, I can’t honestly say I know what I would have done in your shoes, but I can say it wouldn’t have been this. Sounds to me like Nana came up with a plan and you just ran with it without any further thoughts whatsoever. You didn’t even stop to think about the what ifs. And in this kind of scenario there’s about a gazillion what ifs just floating around. At least Dad provided a Royal Guard for us both as a just-in-case. I don’t think you’ve done the same, but please, go ahead and correct me if I’m wrong, because I would very much like to be. Seriously.”
She just sat there with her lips pressed into a tight, thin line.
“Nothing? Not a word to say to that, right? Yeah, I thought not.
“So where does that leave us now? From the sounds of things, looks like we’re either getting ready to prepare for an all-out war, which is what you were supposedly trying to avoid, or I need turn myself in. Which, sorry, but that is so not gonna happen.
“Speaking of which, what are you telling them now anyway? I know both of them, especially Elyssia, have got to know something’s up by now. I mean, really, when was the last time I was even at home? I know there were witches there for the rescue and whatnot, so they must have known about that half of things. Mostly, anyway. But after that? I know they have to be at least a bit suspicious about why I never came back. What elaborate lie have you been telling them?”
“I told them both that with the ordeal you’ve gone through, you just need some time alone, to yourself, apart from everyone,” was Mom’s lame reply.
“And they actually went for that?” When she glanced away and refused to resume eye-contact, I knew something else had to be up. “What did you do, Mother?” Since she hates to be called Mother, I made sure to put a heavy emphasis on the word.
“They might have been slightly compelled to believe every word I said to them.” She said it so low that had it not been for my newly enhanced hearing, I might not have heard her.
“You did what? Please tell me you didn’t.”
“Go to a sorcerer, yes, yes I did. I didn’t see we had much of a choice.”
Dad let out a big humph, so either he hadn’t known, or it was yet another thing that he’d let slide on by him without protest.
“So now there’s yet another person who knows about all this mess. You do realize the more who know, the more likely this is to get out?” And to think I used to actually look up to this woman. The more I was finding out, the more I began to question my own judgment.
“Actually, the sorcerer came to me, and seemed to already know a lot of what was going on.”
Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, was the mantra that played through my head. And, of course, me being me, I just had to ask. “Who was it?”
Though I already knew before she so much as parted her lips, she said it. “Young Rasputin.”
“Has everyone forgotten that entire family is batshit crazy? Or do they just try to ignore that tiny little tidbit of information? I mean, come on, who actually names their child Young, for Goddess’ sake?!” I asked, exasperated.
I was beginning to think that maybe having these two raise me together would have been a disastrous idea after all.
18
Perfect Strangers
While the ‘rents commenced to argue amongst themselves yet again, Anya flashed in with a finger to her lips while holding her other hand out to me. I desperately grabbed it, feeling as though I were drowning and she were tossing me a life saver. Quietly, she flashed us away from the two seemingly insane beings who’d created us.
We ended up in the grounds at the back of the castle. It was around four thirty in the morning, but surprisingly I wasn’t even tired yet. That was probably due to the fact that there were a million thoughts running through my head. I could faintly hear laughter as the festivities out front finally came to an end. The music had long since stopped. There were probably just a few stragglers mucking about, getting ready to make their way home.
Only one of the moons remained visible in the sky, giving way to the soon-to-be-risen sun. We sat on the edge of the poolside with our legs dangling, our feet in
the water. Anya had thought to bring us each a bathing suit and a sheer cover-up top to put on over it. We had both flashed out of what we had on and into those as soon we’d arrived back there.
“Know something crazy? As much as I love being in water or just being surrounded by it, I couldn’t swim a lick to save my own life.” We both laughed at that. “Really. One summer, we went down to one of the selkies’ lakes, and there was this beautiful mermaid swimming in the middle. I was only about eight, I think, and more curious than that monkey on the human shows. I wanted desperately to get a better, closer look at her. So, me being the little idiot that I was, I didn’t realize that the further you walked into the water, the deeper it got.”
“You didn’t,” Anya said on a laugh.
“Oh yes I did.” I had to laugh at myself. “Mom and…well, guess he’s not my dad. Not sure what to call him right now—do I use his first name? Anyway, they were doing their own thing and not really paying much attention to me. So I decided that I was going to walk to the pretty lady. More fool me, since after about ten steps in, my feet were no longer stepping on anything solid. Once I started going under, I was panicking way too much to float. Truth be told, I wasn’t even that deep, probably had just lost my footing or something. The mermaid must have seen me, because it was her who pulled me up from going under and swam me to shore. Worst part? Once I really looked at her, I realized she wasn’t even that damn pretty. So all of that was for nothing.”
We both broke out laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes.
“Ever since then, I’ve been way too terrified to even attempt to learn how to swim. But I still love the water.”
“You, Sis, are completely nuts. That also explains why I got so scared one day I started screaming at seemingly nothing. Darvyn thought I was scared of my own damn shadow.”
We laughed some more. Sharing more little stories of our past like that, going back and forth. It was fun, yet sad as all get-out at the same time. Rehashing all of those memories just brought home the fact of how much had been lost between us, all those years we’d been forced to spend apart. Made me wonder what it would have been like to have grown up with both my sisters, and my brother. But I guessed when you really came to think of it, if things had gone the opposite way, Elyssia would never have been born. Couldn’t imagine that either. Maybe things really did happen for a reason after all, even though that wasn’t always an easy thing to see, and sometimes that much harder to admit.
Witch Wars: The Underlayes, Book One Page 11
