Emma.My bags were packed and I was ready to leave. I threw the small duffel bag into the backseat and climbed in. Antonia stood at the porch with a smirk on her face. She was practically shaking with excitement at the thought of doing off to fight Kael. I wondered if she knew what she was signing up for. Kael was a very strong alpha and he had a powerful wolf. I had never seen anyone defeat him Ina fight. But I knew I couldn't just sit still and wish. I had to do something to take my child back. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her and I didn't at least try to help. “Antonia is used to war. She was a soldier before Kael sired her.” I looked back at the lady on the porch again and for a brief second, I could see the sadness in her eyes. She had a story and possibly one as tragic as mine. “She mustn't come, I don't need anyone to fight my war," I said pointedly. Derek seemed amused at my bravado. “Of course you don't. But we know werewolves more than you do.
Emma.I couldn't feel anything around me but death. The blood. It called out to me. My nose caught every stench. Every single smell. But what called out to me was the blood. The crimson stains on the snow. I could see them. I could smell them. I could almost feel my body moving towards them. I wasn't myself. I couldn't feel my own legs. It was like a strange being was inhabiting my body and my mind receded to the edges. “Emma?" A voice called out behind me and I turned to see Antonia. The vampire was a little weary as she moved forward. Inside my head, I knew that she wasn't a foe but somehow, I couldn't keep my feet from moving towards her in rage. I tried to scream but all that came out was a hoarse growl of rage. My hands shook and my legs stomped the snow as I raced to her. In a blur, I was right in her face. I could see the shock in her eyes at my speed. But just before I could sink my hands into her neck, rip out her throat like I wanted to, I heard another voice call o
Derek.Emma was a hybrid. She was awakened. Her body was nothing like a human girl. Gone was the soft feminine build and her silky blonde hair. In its place was a furry beast standing on both legs with arms the size of his own thighs and feet twice as large. For a second, I couldn't believe my own eyes. She was different. She had changed and she was an object of nightmares. I watched her tear into the werewolves that tried to hold her down for the wolf at the entrance to take over. But Emma was stronger. She held them with her powerful arms and shoved them away, hurting them fiercely on the floor and dismantling their forces. “Kill!" She yelled again. That was all she seemed able to say. Kill. The single word seemed to raise some sort of strength and anger within her. She was furious. She was dangerous and as she said those words, her power seemed unmatchable. “Emma!" I called out as I noticed that she was winning against the alpha wolf. Without turning back to me, she threw
Emma.My limbs were shaking. I could feel everything around me. The wind in my face, the pulse beating wildly, the sound of the guard who was tapping his foot nervously against the stone floor. Everything was heightened. The pain on my left wrist, the ringing in my ear, the slight numbness of my left thumb. It was all so vivid. For a second, I couldn't help but wonder if I was losing my mind. “Emma?" I heard Derek call out to me. I jumped slightly at the proximity. Despite how much I felt, how closely I heard each sound, he still managed to sneak up on me. “Hey," I replied with a soft sigh and leaned back on the chair. We were in a secluded house in the town. I'd lived in the small mountain town for many years but I was a stranger to the cabin in the woods. Derek and his men seemed to know exactly where to go and they stopped right at the cabin and led us all in. Kael was still unconscious and he'd been tied up in a chair in the far corner of the room. Two guards stood by his sid
Emma.Shock. That was what I felt. A bone crushing, soul numbing shock that left me punching my own skin to be sure that I was still alive. Brother?! “You're no use to anyone alive!" Derek spat in rage. Derek was his brother? Kael was still tied up on the chair. His slightly wet and tousled hair was right in his face. His jawline and sharp chin stood out strangely. Like I had somehow broken something while beating him up. Then I turned to look again at Derek. He looked nothing like Kael. Both had two different shades of hair. A deep blonde and jade respectively. And while Kael had deep black eyes, Derek had ocean green eyes that she could get lost in. He reminded her so much of Roger that sometimes, staring at him hurt. But beyond the difference, she could see the chin, the jaw, the bridge of their nose. The size of their palms. It was all so different and yet so familiar. Like they could somehow be seen in each other. Bits and pieces. “Yet there I am. Alive and even our prett
Emma.My mother stood before me. My foster mother. I hadn't seen her in many years and now here she stood, staring at me. A woman that had turned my life upside down. The source of my joy and yet the bane of my existence. I was broken at the sight of her. Somehow, time seemed to pass very quickly. It seemed like it was just yesterday when she last saw Barbara and Alec. All together, as a family. “Mother," I breathed. But my voice broke. She couldn't say anything without feeling the pain, the tears, the anger, the rage. "Please, let me help you.” Barbara said. “Where have you been?" The words slipped out of my lips before I could stop them. Barbara's eyes teared up and she looked at me. She moved closer and I stepped back, holding my hands out. “Do not touch me." "Emma, please, I'm sorry.” But what apology could ever fix what she'd broken. She has taken all I ever had. She'd killed our family with her lies. She'd pretended to be human and with that, she'd carved a delusional ho
Emma.Derek and I moved at once. If Kael was gone, then we didn't have time. Derek ordered the driver to speed up as we drove toward the Crescent Moon pack. Every bump and jolt of the van only made the dread sink deeper into my bones. My hands trembled, clutching the edge of the seat as if it could anchor me to some sense of stability. “She’s alive,” I whispered to myself, my voice trembling as I tried to force the words into reality. “Violet is alive.” Barbara, seated across from me, kept her gaze low, I couid see the guilt etched into every line of her face. Derek sat beside me, his hands rubbed on mine, his warmth provided a small comfort against the storm raging inside me. “Don’t let them see you afraid,” he said softly, his voice was firm yet soothing. And I knew he was right. I nodded, swallowing hard. Fear couldn’t save my daughter. But it gripped me all the same, making me feel helpless. What could I do? How had my life become so complicated? Violet had just come in
Emma.The vengeful wench had my baby. Selene stood on the porch, cradling a small bundle in her arms. My heart stopped at the sight. I knew without question what, or more accurately who, she was holding. “Hello, rejected Luna,” she sneered. Rejected Luna. That's what I was. I was the woman who she believed she was better than. I was the one Kael threw away just to be with her. I was the ruined queen. The whore. I clenched my fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms. Derek stepped forward, placing his body like a wall of protection between me and Selena, but I pushed past him. I was done hiding behind anyone. “Give me my daughter,” I sneered, my voice was cold. Just as my heart was. Selena laughed mockingly. Her voice was a cruel sound that made my blood boil. “Your daughter? Oh, Emma, you’re as delusional as ever. Do you honestly think you deserve her? A child born of betrayal and weakness?” Derek growled, stepping closer, but I raised a hand to stop him. “Don’t,” I
Emma.The chamber filled with blinding light as the Seals' power reached its zenith. Through squinted eyes, I watched the original family members' forms begin to dissolve like smoke in strong wind. But instead of the violent end they'd feared, something unexpected happened."They're... transforming," Marcus breathed, his voice heavy with wonder.Indeed, as their artificial power stripped away, something else emerged – their true forms, not the twisted parasitic shapes we'd glimpsed before, but something almost human. They were becoming what they perhaps should have been all along: just another part of the supernatural world, not its masters."Well, that's anticlimactic," Tara muttered, though her voice shook slightly. "All this time, they were just... people? Super-powered, definitely needs-therapy people, but still?""Sometimes the scariest monsters are just scared themselves," Mom said softly, her Seal's light beginning to dim as the transformation completed.The female figure – now
Emma.The air in the conference room felt charged, every revelation tightening the invisible threads of tension between us. Marcus’s words echoed in my mind, unraveling the very foundation of everything we believed about supernatural history."So the segregation of species," Tara repeated, her voice a careful whisper in the heavy silence, "the whole hierarchy of werewolves, vampires, witches… it’s all artificial?""Engineered," Marcus confirmed. He reached into his worn leather bag and pulled out an ancient journal. The weathered cover bore faint traces of intricate designs, symbols that seemed to hum faintly with power."The original families didn’t just create supernatural beings," Marcus continued, carefully placing the journal on the table. "They deliberately kept them separate. They manipulated evolution itself to ensure that no one would rise beyond their control."Mom leaned forward, her fingers brushing the journal’s cover reverently. Her eyes shone with a mixture of pain and
Emma.The training room echoed with the rhythmic thuds of combat. I stood on the observation deck, arms resting on the railing as I watched my mother take down three seasoned fighters without breaking a sweat. Her movements were a symphony of precision and efficiency, blending the ferocity of a predator with the elegance of a dancer. This wasn’t the same woman who once scolded me for tracking mud onto the carpet or fussed over chipped nail polish.Cassidy’s voice broke through my thoughts as she joined me at the window. "Still think she was just a socialite?" she asked, a faint smile tugging at her lips. Her recovery from recent events was slow but noticeable—some of her old spark was returning."I don’t know what to think anymore," I admitted, shifting Violet on my hip. My daughter’s wide eyes were glued to the scene below, her tiny hands clutching the edge of my shirt. "It’s like I’m meeting her for the first time. Like the person she used to be was just… a mask."Cassidy hummed tho
Emma.The safe house Ben provided was more of a compound than a house – a sprawling ranch-style property tucked away in dense forest, complete with underground bunkers and state-of-the-art security systems. We'd been here for three days, and I still hadn't explored all of it."More coffee?" Tara asked, finding me in the kitchen at dawn. She looked exhausted but determined, her laptop never far from reach. "I made a fresh pot.""Please." I watched as she poured, noting how her hands trembled slightly. "Have you slept at all?"She shrugged, sliding into the seat across from me. "Sleep is overrated. Besides, you should see what I found in those files we recovered. The original families? They've been manipulating world events for centuries. Wars, peace treaties, technological advances – all carefully orchestrated to maintain their control.""Mom's still going through grandmother's journals," I said, wrapping my hands around the warm mug. "Apparently, the Keepers weren't just fighting agai
Emma.Dust and debris rained down around us as chaos erupted. Through the haze, I caught glimpses of dark figures dropping from above – Ben's private security team, armed with something that made the air crackle with energy. The "original family" members hadn't expected this, their perfect composure finally cracking."Now!" Tara shouted from somewhere behind me. The house's emergency sprinkler system activated, but instead of water, a fine purple mist filled the air. I recognized the mixture – Cassidy's special blend of herbs and mountain ash, weaponized into an aerosol form.The man in the business suit snarled, his human facade slipping to reveal something ancient and terrible beneath. "You dare—""Oh, we dare," my mother cut in, stepping forward with a confidence I'd never seen before. She pulled an antique locket from beneath her shirt – my grandmother's locket, the one she'd never let me touch. "Did you really think Richard was the only one preparing for this day?"The taller wom
EmmaI jolted awake in the rocking chair, my neck stiff from sleeping at an odd angle. The first rays of dawn filtered through the nursery blinds, casting strips of pale light across Violet's empty crib. For a split second, panic seized my chest before I heard her delighted giggles coming from the kitchen, mixed with my mother's gentle cooing."Look who finally decided to join us," Derek said from the doorway, a steaming cup of coffee in his hand. His smile was tired but warm. "You were out cold for three hours.""You should've woken me," I grumbled, accepting the coffee gratefully. The rich aroma helped clear the fog from my mind. "Any updates?""Nothing urgent. Tara's still working on those blueprints, and—" He was cut off by the sound of something shattering in the kitchen, followed by Mary's exasperated sigh."Oh, for heaven's sake!" We found my mother standing amid the remains of what used to be her favorite coffee mug, while Violet sat in her high chair, thoroughly amused by th
Emma.The grandfather clock in the hallway struck midnight, its deep chimes echoing through the house. I sat cross-legged on the floor of Violet's nursery, surrounded by maps and documents, while my daughter slept peacefully in her crib. The soft glow of her night light cast dancing shadows on the walls, reminding me of simpler times."You should get some rest," Derek said from the doorway, his voice barely above a whisper. Dark circles under his eyes betrayed his own exhaustion, but I knew he wouldn't sleep until I did."In a minute," I replied, studying the surveillance photos Tara had compiled. "Something about these shipments to the mill doesn't add up."He crossed the room and sat beside me, his warmth a comfort in the cool night air. "Talk it through with me."I spread the photos out, pointing to timestamps and vehicle descriptions. "See these trucks? They're registered to different companies, but look at the drivers." I handed him Tara's enhanced images. "Same three people, rot
Emma.The morning light filtered through the windows, casting long shadows across the living room where evidence of last night's gathering still lingered. Empty cups, Tara's half-eaten veggie platter, and Mary's brownie tray – all remnants of a night that had changed everything.I stood by the window, watching as Derek patrolled the perimeter with Ben, their movements synchronized and purposeful. The sight of them working together filled me with a strange sense of peace. My old life and new coming together in ways I never expected."They make quite a team," Tara remarked, joining me at the window. Her presence had become a comfort I didn't know I needed."They do," I agreed, my thoughts drifting to the battle we'd barely survived. "Everything's different now."The sound of Violet's soft cries drew my attention. My mother, Mary, was already moving towards the nursery, her maternal instincts as sharp as ever. It amazed me how quickly she'd adapted to our supernatural reality, accepting
Emma.Emma placed a cup of tea between her palms and settled in the worn armchair located at one end of the living room. The steam curved upwards in delicate patterns, blended with the scent of chamomile, offering momentary relief from mounting tension. The storm had just arrived and Lily was slumbering, unaware of what was happening on their doorstep. Emma took a deep breath and prepared herself for the upcoming battle.Time was passing by her as she looked at the clock. A solid plan was necessary for Tara to deal with Selene, as she had a deadline coming up. Using her notepad, Emma wrote down ideas in bullet points, each one reflecting her commitment to safeguarding her daughter. She was taken aback by the sudden sound of the doorbell. Emma's heart raced. The notepad was wiped clean and put away before she went into the door. Tara stood at a distance with both fear and determination. Tara stepped inside before Emma could answer, "Ah, are you okay?". "It's not that way," Emma decl