Chapter 3 - Aurora

“Mom?”

I can’t believe it. She’s really here, she’s alive, and has been all this time. Her eyes are different, but so are mine. 

“Mom?” I say again, louder this time. “What’s going on? How are you here?” She doesn’t say anything, she just tilts her head, staring at me curiously.

The woman sitting in front of her giggles, “Gwennie isn't really all there right now… well, the darkest parts of her are, but she’s not the woman either of you remember.”

My dad grips the bars of his cell tightly, “what have you done to her, Cassandra?”

She leans forward, sneering at my father, “Gwennie was always so much better at infiltrating the void than I was. As my dear mother liked to remind me every single day,” she scoffs bitterly.

“So, when she showed up one night around seven years ago, I had her arrested, and I decided to continue the experiments the mother used to put us through… only I was much more successful; and now my sweet Gwennie is a vessel for the void.”

She caresses my mom’s arm lovingly, and I process her words; so she left me all those years ago to come back here… but why?

“Gwen,” my father gets her attention, “baby, it’s me. It’s-”

“I know who you are.” My mother’s voice is hoarse and guttural, her eyes like two dark, cold pits of emptiness, and she stares at my father like he’s dirt smudged on her shoes.

“Don’t expect some heartfelt family reunion,” her eyes dart back to me. “You’ll be dead tomorrow.”

Her words take a moment to sink in, I’m too distracted by her face; so familiar, and so beautiful, it sucks me back into a childhood I can barely remember.

I look at Cassandra, “You want me for my blood. Fine. But why is my father here? What else could you possibly take from me?” 

My father comes back to my side, his presence bringing me comfort, and Cassandra sighs at me disappointedly, “You are a pure hybrid, a rare creature that can only be created by two exceptionally strong parents,” she says as if revealing some sacred secret.

I roll my eyes, “Yeah that’s what I am, good fucking job.”

She clicks her tongue in annoyance, “because of what you are, your blood holds more power than any of the elements, it would make me the strongest witch in our world. But there is something that could make your blood even more potent…” she pauses, staring at my father with an evil glint in her eyes, “when the hybrid's blood is split by its givers of life, the sacrifice will hold immense power.”

I just stare at her, not fully comprehending her words and she laughs, “Your parents will kill you tomorrow.”

My father scoffs, “so that’s why you went through so much trouble to get to my Beta… you knew I’d come for him no matter what.”

“Yes, Grayson was like a little brother to you, so I used that bond to my advantage. His head is still on my kitchen floor, I’ll have to get one of my men to clean him up, so the place doesn’t stink of his rotten corpse when I return.”

I look at my father, whose eyes are swimming with unshed tears, and place a hand on his arm, squeezing gently.  He looks down at it with a sad smile, then he glares up at Cassandra, “It doesn’t matter. There is nothing in this world that could possibly make me kill Aurora. I’d die first.”

Cassandra laughs, “Oh, Lothar. You won’t have a choice.”

My father glares dangerously at her, “I thought you had changed. I thought you grew up and moved past your mothers delusions and her relentless quest for power, always more power! She was sick, Cassandra! She raised you and Gwendolyn like puppets, trained you to carry out her unhinged schemes, and filled your heads with absurd ideologies about the void and its offering of never-ending power! The void doesn’t offer anything! All it does is take, corrupt, and turn you into a vessel to spread its darkness!”

“Are you done?” Cassandra aimlessly picks at her nails while she waits for my father to calm down. He seethes at her angrily, but she ignores him, standing up and walking towards our cell, “I am curious,” she says, staring at me intently, “what could you have done to become a blood witch? A change like that must have been triggered by something substantial.”

“I slit a man’s throat when I was thirteen,” I say, glaring past her, at my mother. “Is that substantial enough?”

“Oh, I like you Aurora. If the circumstances were different, I think you and I could be great allies,” Cassandra says, smiling warmly at me.

“There are no circumstances where I would ally with you. I’m going to kill you,” I say, my voice deepening with Danika’s awakening presence, “and I’m going to enjoy it. Savour it. You will die begging me for mercy.”

My moms cold laughter fills the room, “you were right Cassie, she really is my daughter.”

A lump forms in my throat, and I avoid my mothers gaze, glaring instead at Cassandra, who walks to the door, and bangs on it three times; five men walk in carrying syringes.

“I can sense your wolf waking up, she’s a little ahead of schedule; you weren’t due for the second dose until another couple of hours.” She nods at the men, “might as well give it to Lothar also, just the wolfsbane, no aconite for him.”

They nod and open portals into our cell; they don’t even risk opening the damn door, and the portals close behind them immediately. I’m still too weak to fight back, I feel three sharp needles piercing into me, and Cassandra sighs in relief, “I will see you tomorrow Aurora. I promise to make it as painless as possible.”

She turns and walks out of the room, my mother following closely behind her, and I’m swallowed by the same darkness as before.

***

I wake up in a panic, I don’t know how much time has passed, or how much longer we have. Looking to my right, I see my father lying on the floor, still unconscious, and I shake him roughly, “Dad! Wake up!” He doesn’t move, “DAD!” I scream, shaking him harder.

The door to the room opens and one of the guards from earlier stomps in brandishing a weapon threateningly. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll pump you full of so much wolfsbane and aconite, you’ll never wake up again.”

I glare at him, my eyes narrowing at the dagger in his hand, the curved blade glints dangerously, the black handle is encrusted with red rubies and there’s a sphere suspended in the hilt, filled with Samael’s blood. “That’s mine fucker! Give it back.” Seeing the dagger Samael gave me the night of my first shift in his hands sends boiling rage coursing through me.

The man laughs, waving my dagger in front of me tauntingly, “mine now bitch.”

I growl at him, but without Danika, it sounds almost pathetic. He laughs again, making his way out of the room, “keep it down in here, some of us are trying to sleep.” The door slams shut behind him, and silence fills the room once again.

I turn to my dad, “please wake up,” I mutter quietly.

I sit with my back against the bars between our cells, as close to him as I can get, and wait. I try to come up with a plan, but I have no idea how I’m going to get us out of here without Danika or my magic.

Finally, after about fifteen minutes, I notice my dad start to stir. “Aurora,” he mumbles, “are you Ok?”

I pull him into a sitting position immediately and bury my face in his chest, “I’m fine. But what are we going to do? How are we going to get out of here?”

He lets out a huff as he holds me tightly, “I don’t know… we could try convincing the guards to let us out or trick them somehow. Although, we would have to come up with something exceptionally enticing in order to get them to turn on Cassandra.”

I think about the witch who came in brandishing my dagger, “one of them has the dagger Samael gave me, maybe I can get it back from him, and-”

“And what? The other four witches will let you stab them with it?” He chuckles, “Aurora, sweetheart, we are pumped full of wolfsbane, and you have aconite blocking the connection to your element, we don’t stand a chance against them. I might be able to overpower a couple of them, but I’m assuming Cassandra left her most powerful witches to guard us, so it won’t be easy.”

My heart sinks again and I sit back against the wall with a huff, “so, you’re saying there’s no way we can get out of here?”

“Of course not, we just need to plan it carefully.” He places a hand on mine squeezing gently.

My mind races, trying to come up with a solution. “Earlier, when I was yelling at you to wake up, only one of them came in to check on what was happening… he was the one with my dagger. Maybe we make a ruckus and if it’s the same guy that comes in, perhaps I can get the dagger from him, then run out and take the other guards by surprise. Maybe it’ll be enough to kill them all… maybe they’ll even be asleep?”

He sighs, shaking his head slowly, “I don’t like it. Let me do it, I’ve had years of training; even without my wolf, I think I can distract them enough for you to get out of here.”

“No, no fucking way. I literally just found you, I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself!” I pull at my hair in frustration and feel tears beginning to brim over my eyelids. I need Danika, I need her strength, her speed, her confidence. I need my magic, and the rush of power I get when I connect to someone’s blood.

Samael’s blood is in my dagger, if only I could draw from it for power right now… wait… my heart starts to thud at a dangerously fast pace, “Dad?”

I stare into his eyes, “H-how do you become a vampire?” All I know is that it has something to do with drinking their blood.

My father looks at me, shock written all over his face, “Is that… I don’t see how that matters right now.”

“Do you remember mom’s dagger? The one with the glass sphere with the water in it?” I ask him, hoping he knows what I’m talking about.

“Yes, how could I forget? She never went anywhere without it.”

“Right, well, Samael gave me a similar one, only instead of water, it has his blood in it.” I pause, but he just stares at me, confused. I sigh, “that’s the dagger the guard outside has! If I get it back, I have vampire blood!”

Realization dawns on his face, “I don’t know about that Aurora, it's rare for a wolf to turn into a vampire, and often the wolf counterpart dies during the change. We don’t know what will happen to you, you’re already a hybrid. What if you lose your wolf?”

“I have to believe that Nyx and Selene knew this would be a possibility when they made me what I am, they chose Samael for me, he’s the Dema King, ruler of all vampires… this has to work.” It truly feels like our best shot at getting out of here, but am I willing to change myself, to risk losing Danika and my wolf side to become a vampire?

Samael’s beautifully chiselled face appears in my mind, and I know the answer is yes. I would do anything to get back to him, and I know Danika would want me to.

My dad still looks concerned; I squeeze his hand, “Please, let me try. We need to do something to get him in here so you can overpower him and I can grab my dagger. Please? We both have to get out of here dad, I’m not losing you already!” I plead with him desperately, tears spilling from my eyes.

He caresses my cheek, wiping the tears away, “Ok Aurora, we can try, but it takes more than just drinking the blood of a vampire to turn into one…”

I wait for him to elaborate, but he just stares at me worriedly, “what else is there?” I press him.

“Nyx doesn’t let just anyone become one of her creations… it’s a sacrifice. You need to show her your loyalty by giving yourself to her in exchange for eternal life.” He lets out a long breath, “after drinking the blood, you must plunge the blade into your own heart; if Nyx accepts you as one of her children, it won’t kill you, and the transformation will begin.”

Well shit, that’s a bit more intense than I anticipated. “I’ll do it,” I say with as much determination as I can muster.

“Ok,” he sighs in defeat, “we’ll try to get one of them in here, hopefully it’s the same one as before. We just need to figure out a way to actually get him to come into our cell.” 

He sits back against the wall and I realize just how much space he takes up; the man is huge. Even bigger than Seth. He looks like he could easily take on all five witches based on strength alone. 

“We could fight,” I say and his head snaps up, a worried look in his eyes. “I remember back in the dungeons, a guard once told me I was lucky they didn’t keep two inmates in each cell anymore. Apparently they separated everyone because the inmates kept fighting with each other.” I motion to the empty cell next to us, “there’s two cells in this room, if we fight with each other, they’ll have to separate us.” 

My dad shakes his head slowly, “I really don’t like it, Aurora. So much could go wrong. What if more than one of them come in? What if they all do?”

“Then we overpower them!” I grit through my teeth, feeling tears pooling up and spilling over my eyelids. I blink them away rapidly, “they can’t kill us. Cassandra needs us both for her ritual. Please,” I grab one of his hands with both of mine, pleading with him, “please, dad?” 

His eyes sparkle with his own unshed tears and he places his other hand over mine, “Ok, we’ll do it.” 

***

“ARGH! YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHY DID YOU NEVER BOTHER TO FIND ME? MY LIFE HAS BEEN A MESS BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU AND THAT WHORE YOU CONSIDER A MATE!” Woah, that was harsh. Even for me. She might be awful, but she’s still my mother. 

My father pauses for a split second, pain evident in his eyes, but he shakes it off and lashes back at me, like we had planned, “MAYBE SHE LEFT BECAUSE SHE KNEW I NEVER WANTED TO RAISE SUCH A SNOT NOSE LITTLE BRAT!” 

Ouch. 

It might be fake, but damn, that still hurts. I think my dad notices, because he squeezes my shoulder and mouths, ‘I’m sorry’. 

I smirk at him before punching him square in the face causing him to barely stumble. Fucking Nyx. Without Danika I’m far too weak. 

My dad chuckles, “you can do better than that,” he whispers in my ear. 

I muster up as much strength as I can and punch him again, this time making him stumble back into the bars of the cell, only I think he oversells it a bit as he crashes into them with a long, drawn out wail, clutching his face as if in immeasurable pain. 

I roll my eyes at his antics and the door to the room we’re in bangs open loudly and the same witch from earlier stomps his way in; “What the fuck is going on in here?!” he roars, the door swinging shut behind him.

“I can’t be in a cell with this asshole anymore!” I yell, pointing at my father, who is still leaning against the bars. 

“That’s too damn bad now isn’t it?” says the witch with a sneer. 

“Your boss needs us both alive, so I suggest you remove him from my cell before I fucking kill him!” 

The witch stares at me for a long moment, before letting out an annoyed huff and opening a portal into our cell. “Don’t fucking move,” he tells me, holding a hand up as he walks out of the portal and it closes behind him. 

“I won’t,” I tell him, as I watch my dad lunge at him out of the corner of my eye. 

In a split second, the witch is tackled to the ground with my dad on top of him. “Holy shit,” I mutter as I watch him beat the man's face into the floor. The sound of the impact of his fist combined with the witch gurgling on his own blood fills the room until my dad finally lets up and gets to his feet. 

“Your dagger,” he rumbles, bending to remove it from the witches hip. 

“Thanks,” I take the blade from him, his fist bruised and dripping blood. “About what I said…” 

“Neither of us meant what we said. It’s ok Aurora.” 

“Right, I know. But still.” 

We share an understanding nod and I look down at my dagger, examining the glass sphere containing Samael’s blood. I need to open it somehow, I don’t have my claws, and I can’t just smash it. I look around; the floor is stone, but it's old and cracked in places.

My dad watches the door while I dig out a small pebble with my nails and begin tapping it on the glass sphere. Finally, it cracks, allowing me to tip it back, and drain it of Samael’s blood.

It’s much sweeter than I expected it to be, and as it hits my tongue, my yearning for my mate grows to a painful ache in my chest.

“You have to do it quickly, Aurora, the other guards will grow suspicious of his absence,” my father mutters.

I raise my dagger with shaky hands, I didn’t stop to think about how difficult this would be. It’s not like when I stabbed myself in the stomach, I didn’t care if I lived or died back then, but now, all I can picture is Samael losing his mind if I don’t come home.

I look at my dad, “you do it,” I plead, trying to give him my dagger.

He just shakes his head sadly, “You have to be the one, it’s your sacrifice to Nyx. It can only work if you do it.”

“Oh fuck,” I breathe out, “Ok, Ok,” my chest rises and falls rapidly; sudden movement from outside causes my head to turn towards the door.

“Dean! What the fuck are you doing in there?” a deep voice calls out.

“Shit!” I take a deep breath, and, without hesitation, I plunge the dagger into my chest.