Children of the Goddesses (completed)

Déjà vu

Laila’s POV

            The warm soapy water relaxed my tensed muscles and I was thankful to Betti for suggesting a bath. I had grown fond of taking long relaxing baths during my stay at the Tahoe Coven. It was a luxury that was unheard of in the First Witch’s Daughters’ vampire army base camp where I had spent almost all my life in. At the base camp, we were fed well and had all the necessities needed to sustain life but that was it, we were surviving, not living. Since I could remember, every waking moment of my life at the base camp outside of my own home was about training for missions and preparing for an impending war against the werewolves and their allied witches. Little vampires were sent to pre-training school at the age of three, where we learned about the greatness of our Lady Lae and her son Lord Nyi. At the age of five, we were promoted to training school to learn combat skills, first aid and other necessary skills for war. Finally, at the age of twelve, we’d graduate from training school and be assigned to a unit within the army. 

            Both my brother, Lovis, and I were assigned to the logistics and supplies unit, a relatively safe unit far from the frontlines. I wasn’t naive enough to believe it was luck or because our aptitude test placed us in that unit. Our father was a Colonel in the army and a decorated combat veteran too. If anything, I was sure that he had something to do with our assignments but I knew better than to ask. After all, at the base camp, you never knew who was listening in to your conversations and who would report you to the Royals. For most vampires, the only person that you could trust completely was yourself, especially when there was no lack of examples of public punishments being meted out to vampires betrayed by their own family members and friends. I was the lucky exception with a supportive family and a loyal friend, Lem. 

            Like all humans at base camp, my mother was also kidnapped during one of the Expansion Missions, which was just a nice name for abducting humans, both male and female, for breeding purposes with our witch cousins or male vampires. Female vampires could become pregnant, but not one female vampire has been able to give birth to anything but a stillborn, so at some point, Lady Lae stopped procuring humans for us. Father was still a young vampire at that time and training to become a medic. He had seen my mother at the Supply Market for vampires where abducted humans were kept until they were either picked by the Royals or assigned to a vampire without an assigned mate. The fate of these humans were similar. They were used for pleasure and breeding until they could no longer fulfill either function and that’d be the day their death warrant was signed. There were a few rare exceptions like my parents. Father felt drawn to my mother even though there was no such thing as fated mates or the mate bond for vampires. We were not children of the Moon Goddess, we were abominations created by witches. As a young recruit, Father knew that it was beyond his means to save my mother and help her to leave, so he did the next best thing that he could. He signed on for active combat duty so that he could choose his own mate instead of having one assigned to him. 

            Initially, my mother was deathly afraid of my father and everything within our base camp. Well, who wouldn’t be? Father gave her as much time and space as she wanted, and even put his reputation at stake when my mother wasn’t pregnant after a year. He managed to get one of his trusted friends, Lem’s father, who had trained to become a medic with him to certify him as having fertility issues and was unlikely to father children, in order to prevent the coven from discarding my mother like a useless piece of trash. Over time, my mother came to terms that there was no way out and this was going to be the rest of her life. Despite the few interactions they had, with Father often away on combat missions, my mother got to know Father better over time and against all odds, they fell in love. 

            Before the death of my mother when I was seven, I could almost describe my life as not too different from that of human children in the outside world. Mother had done everything in her power to shield us from the harsh realities of the base camp. Even though we had to keep many of the things that we did at home a secret, as a young child, I believed my parents when they said that it was a game to keep our home activities at home. Up until my seventh birthday, I had enjoyed bedtime stories, goodnight kisses, birthday cakes and Christmas presents. I even had playmates to share these little joys with. Besides my brother, Lovis, I had Lem, a playmate of my own age to grow up with until our assignments at the age of twelve. Lem’s mother passed away a few days after his birth from a lack of medical care and despite the ranks of our fathers, they were not able to secure the blood transfusion that Lem’s mother had needed. On her deathbed, Lem’s mother had pleaded with Mother to care for him, and it was a promise that Mother kept until her own death. 

            I lost contact with Lem after our assignments as he was assigned to the secretive bio research unit and sometimes when the night sky is littered with stars, I’d wonder how he was doing, if he were still alive, and whether we would ever have the chance to count the stars in the skies together again like when we were little. Since waking up and seeing my own reflection in the mirror, memories of the past flooded my mind. I haven’t thought about my childhood for a long time, especially not after fleeing the base camp and fighting alongside the Alliance Army. Seeing my reflection just now was like seeing my mother again and it brought back the most precious memories that I had locked away in the recesses of my mind. Gone were the scars from the witch fire and instead of my deathly pale skin, which all vampires had, my skin tone was now rosier, almost like a human’s. My pitch black hair and eyes, which was the standard for vampires, were replaced by my mother’s blonde locks and her dark blue eyes.

            Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, I felt truly reborn and I was determined to seize this second chance to live the life that I had dreamed of while I was at the Tahoe Coven. I wanted to be reunited with Lovis and Father. I wanted to explore the many marvelous places that Brenna had told me about. And most of all, I wanted to fall in love and find the other half of my soul like Luna Kayla and her sister, Nari did, even though I knew full well that vampires didn’t have fated mates. The face of that man flashed across my mind at the thought of finding my other half and I squeezed my eyes shut, willing that image to go away. He was a stranger whom I didn’t know if I could trust, and the last thing I needed was to be thinking about him in a romantic way. I had one job right now and it had priority above everything else, get to the Tahoe Coven. 

            The water was starting to turn cold and the balls of my fingers were beginning to look like shrivelled up prunes. I took that as a sign for me to get up from my bath and get down to work. Taking a bath was indeed a great idea. Not only did I feel much cleaner now, I was also relaxed and my mind was clear. I needed to get to the Tahoe Coven but without money or any supplies, there was no way that I could do it on my own. Betti mentioned that their pack is in the State of Maine and I remembered vividly that one of the Alliance Army leaders was from this State. Alpha Edgerton of the Eagle Lake Pack was one of the first supporters of pardoning vampires who were willing to surrender to the Alliance Army and pledge their loyalty to the new Union. Surely, he would be able to help me to get to the Tahoe Coven, especially after knowing about the important message from the Moon Goddess. 

            “Do you think she’s dangerous? If not, why is the Alpha sending her away?” An unfamiliar inquisitive voice made me pause just as I was about to push the bathroom door open. 

            “Yeah! And she looks strange too. I remember seeing the vampires on the news this morning. They don’t look like her.” 

            “They were on the news again? Goddess, I swear those ungrateful beings are all going to end up in prison or executed one day!”

            “Well, at least the Union has now decided that all vampires need to be registered. Hopefully that would help to deter vampires from attacking werewolves and humans.”

            “That’s enough, girls! Don’t be ridiculous now and you know our Alpha doesn’t like us to gossip about these things! You can come back to clean the room tonight. The vampire girl just woke up and now is not a good time. Besides, I need your help to pack for the mission. Let’s go now.” 

            “Yes, future Gamma Betti,” giggled one of the voices that had just been mocking vampires a few seconds ago. The sound of footsteps leaving and the faint click of the door closing made me release the breath that I didn’t know I was holding. The loathe and disdain in the voices of those werewolves didn’t surprise me. After all, vampires had been attacking werewolf packs on the command of the First Witch’s Daughters for centuries, and centuries of animosity wouldn’t just disappear overnight. What shocked me to the bone was the news about vampire attacks and the registration of the vampires. How long has it been since the Battle at Wallace Bay? Betti said that I was unconscious for two months after they had found me. How could so much happen in two months? And why would vampires attack werewolves and humans, again?

            Tears escaped my eyes despite my best attempt to stay strong. There was no time to wallow in despair and perhaps, this was the danger that the Moon Goddess had warned me about through my mother. Her warning was cryptic but what else could threaten my kind with extinction other than a full scale persecution against us driven by mutual prejudice and hate? Wiping the tears on my face hastily on the sleeve of my bathrobe, I took a deep breath before going back into the room that I was staying in. Thankfully, there was no one else in the room and I found some fresh clothes placed neatly on my bed for me. My on edge emotions came down a notch as I picked up the fluffy white sweater on the bed. Despite everything that I had overheard, at the very least, I knew that there was hope. Betti had put a stop to the gossips and I knew from the smell of the sweater that she must have placed it there. She had been gentle since I had woken up and in each and every small action, she gave me hope that there were more like her. 

            “Oh s**t! Sorry!” 

            A familiar voice echoed in the room followed by hurried footsteps. I scrambled to cover my naked torso with the t-shirt beside the sweater on the bed and looked behind me to make sure that I was alone in the room again. My heart raced as I quickly put on the rest of my clothes before calling out in a wobbly voice to the man waiting outside the door. 

            “You can come in now,” I said shyly, uncertain if the man had seen my half naked body. His face was red when he came back in and his cheeks became an even deeper shade of red as our eyes met. 

            “I’m sorry, I forgot to knock,” he explained sincerely. “I didn’t see anything, I swear!” 

            The helplessness in his voice made me smile in amusement as I fought to hold back a laugh. I nodded in understanding at him and was about to ask him about the Eagle Lake Pack and getting to the Tahoe Coven when he delivered an earth shattering piece of news. 

            “I think I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m the Gamma of the Gardner Lake Pack but you can call me Ethan. My Alpha has tasked me with bringing you to the Tahoe Coven and we will leave at dusk. We will only travel by night to ensure your safety and we’d have to drive because you don’t have any papers, and we don’t want to risk registering you with the Supernatural Office in Maine. It’s a complicated situation and we’re just a small pack. I’m sorry that we can’t do more for you but believe me that this is the best for all of us. The West Coast is safer for your kind.” 

            My head spun as I took the news in. Once again, it looks like I’d be fleeing to the Tahoe Coven for my own safety. “What do you mean by complicated? Why can’t I register with the Supernatural Office and what is this office anyway?” Forgetting that this is the first time that I’ve actually opened my mouth to speak since waking up, I rambled on with the many questions in my head without too much thought. The astonishment on Gamma Ethan’s face was evident but it was quickly replaced by suspicion. 

            “What is your name? And where did you come from? The Supernatural Office was established two years ago right after the birth of our Union. How do you not know about it?” 

            Two years ago?! I blinked helplessly at the Gamma, feeling like a fish out of water.