Children of the Goddesses (completed)

New Lease of Life

Laila’s POV

The fight is not over, Laila, and your sisters remain in grave danger. Vampires were created by witches with dark magic harvested by the moonstone, so in a way, you are also children of the Moon Goddess. With the moonstone now destroyed together with the sunstone, vampires can no longer be created with dark magic, nor can they be bestowed the ability to see the light of day. The Moon Goddess is merciful and she doesn’t want to see her Creation suffer, regardless of their origins. The moonstone and the sunstone were not truly destroyed, my little angel. The Moon Goddess used them to preserve your life force and to take the life force of Lady Lae away, and with the magic of both enchanted gemstones in you, you are now a source of magic that can save the rest of your kind from extinction and protect your sisters from being exploited.

            The gentle voice of my mother faded and I fought back tears as the familiar sadness of being forced to part with her again overwhelmed me.

Pray to the Moon Goddess and She’ll hear you, just like I have. We’ll always be by your side and when the day comes for our eternity together in the spiritual world, I will be right here waiting for you.

            Brightness engulfed my surroundings once again, swallowing everything until I could no longer see nor hear anything. I tried to open my mouth to call for my mother but no sound came out of me. My hands reached out frantically into the white void, desperate to grab hold of anything but there was nothing. It felt like there was nothing except me and the brightness around me. This realization should have made me fearful but it didn’t. Instead, I felt an unexplainable peace in my heart and a tiny spark of courage slowly growing into a fire in my heart. 

            “I’m not dead,” I thought to myself in wonder. The Moon Goddess had gifted me a new lease of life to continue to fight the good fight and I didn’t intend to disappoint her. If only I could find a way out of this white void, I’d be able to reunite with my father and brother, and share the Moon Goddess’ warning with Luna Kayla and Brenna! I couldn’t tell how much time had passed but it felt like forever before my efforts to escape the seemingly endless white void bore some fruit. 

            What do you think she is? 

            Do you think she could be a vampire? 

            But she doesn’t look like one.

            Inquisitive whispers echoed in my head constantly and I took it as a cue that I was close to finding a way to exit this white void. My instinct told me to focus on those whispers and slowly but surely, those whispers became louder with time until one day, I could feel a comforting warm, wet cloth on my skin. It was refreshing and I tried to open my eyes but it was still too bright. My initially hopeful heart was faltering and I started to doubt that I had really spoken with my mother in the Mittelding, the place between the world of the living and the spiritual world. Perhaps, I was dead after all and there was no spiritual world for vampires since we were created by evil witches and not by a merciful Goddess. Yet, I was not ready to resign myself to this fate and it was this last bit of unwillingness to go down without a fight that finally led me to see the world of the living again. That and a sudden tingle of pleasurable sparks on my skin, jolted me awake to a dark room. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness but once I could see again, my heart hammered hard against my chest.   

            “You you you’re awake,” stammered the man sitting on the edge of my bed. His honey brown eyes widened in shock as he dropped my hand like I was a burning hot potato. Under other circumstances, I would have laughed out loud at the sight before me. His face had a rugged handsomeness to it making it even funnier to see him behaving like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Unfortunately, this handsome stranger was a stranger and I had no idea where I was and if this man before me was a threat. Instinctively, my body went into fight mode and all of my senses were heightened. I could hear his heart pounding just as loudly and frantically as mine, and I could smell his nervousness mixed with relief and a little bit of longing but they were quickly replaced with wariness as he regained his composure. 

            “Who are you?” 

            The piercing gaze of the man made me feel uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure how to answer him. He smelled like a werewolf, like a freshly showered minty werewolf but he was still a werewolf and the last I checked, even before the battle at our base camp, not all of them were fans of vampires. My hesitation didn’t earn the wrath or hostility that I was expecting. Instead, the man sighed before standing up to leave, only to come back to my side a few moments later. 

            “Here, drink something,” he said gently as he handed me a glass of water with a metal straw. I stared at his face, searching for any signs of danger but all I saw was sincerity and concern. Letting my guard down slightly, I reached out to take the glass from him only to find out that my arm had become useless after all that time floating around in that white void. Luckily, werewolf reflexes were good. The man caught the glass and put it down on the bedside table before leaning down towards me. As his arms reached for my shoulders, I felt a strange warmth filling my heart and heating up my face. In all 16 years of my life, I had never gotten so close to any other males besides my father, my brother and my childhood playmate. Suppressing the strange feelings bubbling in my heart, I allowed the man to help me into a sitting position before sucking on the straw that was now in front of my mouth. 

            “Better?” 

            I nodded my head as I continued to think about whether I could trust this man. Mother said Lady Lae had died in that battle, which means we must have won and I knew with certainty that the leaders of the Alliance Army would never allow a new nation forged from that battle to be an unjust nation. A just nation would be an inclusive one and even if vampires were not granted the same rights as werewolves and witches, at the very least, we would be allowed to live with some degree of dignity. I gazed at the man before me and decided to take a risk. 

            “Ethan? There you are!” A woman walked briskly into the room while the man before me stood up and turned his attention to her. “The Alpha is looking for you,” she said, her eyes never leaving him. 

            “Alright, I’ll head over now,” said the man before gesturing at me. “Could you get the doctor to come check on her? She just woke up.”

            The woman turned to look at me and noticed me for the first time. A look of shock flashed in her eyes before she beamed and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve been taking care of this one for two months now. I know what to do.” 

            The man glanced at me again quickly before nodding at the woman and leaving the room. It was a fleeting glance but filled with so many emotions that I couldn’t understand, yet it was enough to make my heart skip a beat. 

            “Hey there,” said the woman gently as she walked towards me before sitting down on the edge of my bed beside me. “My name is Betti, and I’ve been helping to care for you for about two months now. How’re you feeling?”

            “Two months? It has been two months already?!” I thought to myself in shock. The woman looked at me kindly but somehow, I didn’t feel the same ease around her like the way I had felt when the man was around. 

            “Do you feel pain anywhere? Are you able to speak?” The gentle voice of the woman made me realize that I must have been gawking at her like an i***t. My face heated up and I could only hope that I wasn’t turning red as a tomato now. That thought immediately made me self-conscious about how I looked as I remembered that I still had a horrendous scar from witch fire from above my left eye all the way to my left cheek. The scar was about half the size of my palm but it made me feel hideous. As memories of my scarred face rushed back to me, tears welled up in my eyes and I rushed to cover my face out of shame. 

            “Hush now, it’s ok, you’re safe now. Our pack’s fishermen found you at sea two months ago and brought you back. I don’t know what happened to you, but you’re safe here,” coaxed the woman softly as she slowly put her arms around me. Sensing that I didn’t push her away, she finally leaned in and embraced me while stroking my back gently. It was a relief to finally be able to grieve about what the witch fire had done to my face. In the months after the attack, I had put on a brave front and simply hid my scar behind a veil because there were bigger things to worry about. But deep in my heart, I cared about how I look and I wasn’t really so brave like everyone had made me out to be. 

            “Do you want to wash your face?” The woman released me from her arms and asked me gently before pointing to a door at the other end of the room. Knowing that I must look like a real mess now, I nodded my head shyly and allowed her to help me to the bathroom. As the dim light filled the bathroom, I squinted to adjust to the brightness and when my vision sharpened again, my mouth dropped to the ground. Nothing in this world and the next could have ever prepared me for the reflection staring right back at me.