Freedom for an Angel

Chapter Eight

"Leon, tell me that you're joking, right? There's no way that an evil demon goddess is my mother. Why are you lying to me?" Leon looked away shamefully. Sighing, he said, "I had to mom, and dad told me it was for the best. At least until now. I think the fire is in connection to the kidnappings and the same one finding out about your secret. I thought you wouldn't have any reason to awaken Nightshade, but with recent events, you are going to need her and your partners. Evil is coming." I looked at Shane, then back at Leon and asked,"How did this happen? How did we become like this?" Vitani and Tempest wanted to know also. "Because in this form, we can not find our partners either. How can we do anything if we do not know how we came to be."

Leon looked at us for a long minute. Then he looked at Shane. "Okay, come on." He started walking to the basement door, opened it, looked over his shoulder, and nodded down. Shane followed, then us three girls. It's been a while since we been down here, Vitani thought, Tempest agreed, while I watched Leon reach the bottom and flick on the light. He stared at all the boxes for a second, sighing, then stalked over to the pile closest to the western wall. On the top box, labeled memory books, Leon opened it, pulled out a scrapbook labeled girls, and had three baby pictures on the front.

I gasped when I saw it. All three babies had the different eye colors that we did. Curious, I took the book as Leon had offered it to me. As I stared at the cover, Leon gently took one of my hands so he could lead me to the couch we had down there. I sat down while opening the book. That's when Leon started telling me about us. "I'm an Alpha Wolf. By the time I was ten, I had broken all known recorded records for young alphas. You know mom was an angel but not know what dad was, right?" He paused so I could answer. All I could do was nod yes. "Dad was an incubus." I looked up in shock as Vitani and Tempest had bursts of laughter. Leon chuckled, then continued on.

"I know shocking, right? Anyway, Mom and dad met and realized they were life partners. Well, dad did anyway. More on them another time. They had me and tried for a while, for more, until I was almost fifteen. Mom and dad sat me down to tell me that mom was pregnant with you." He brushed some hair out of my face and kissed the side of my head. "I was excited to have a sibling until your first birthday. We had started the birthday party for you when the doorbell rang. Mom held you while dad went to answer the door. My wolf bristled inside me as if he knew a threat was there. Well, dad wasn't sent flying but came walking back in, followed by a demon god and demon goddess. They were holding Vitani and Tempest. Mom glared at them, demanding to know why they were in her house on a day of happiness."

The demon god held Tempest close to his chest before speaking. "We came to you as the moirai foreseen it. These two children are meant to be with your little one. All three were born on the same day. Did you feel it when she was born, the change in the universe?" He asked mom, and dad admitted he felt it too, as did I, but couldn't explain what it was exactly. The demon goddess spoke up next, "I know you're apprehensive about this, but the three girls must grow up together. Even the moirai can not see completely why it must be so, but it is. Please, no one, not even the girls, have a choice in this."Mom and dad looked long and hard at the two girls, then you, Storm, was staring hard at them both, then giggled with glee. You convinced them both to agree, but they came with terms. We couldn't say anything about where Vitani and Tempest actually came from, not even to the girls themselves."

I had continued flipping through the book until we got to age two, and it was down to one picture: me. My head shot up to look at Leon, and that was the saddest look I'd seen on him in years. He started to explain what happened around our second birthday. We were all out for a celebration dinner for Leon's first football game of the year. 23-6. It's a big win. We each had one of you girls on our laps. I had been playing with you, Storm affectionately when the attack happened. I knew what to do and disappeared into the crowd as it erupted into chaos. Bullets sprayed into the crowd, and as the blood started to seep out of peoples wounds, rogue vampires appeared to drink it up.

That sent people into an even bigger frenzy. As I was walking away like I was supposed to, we each went different ways, but something happened that not even a seer could predict. I stopped when something powerful invaded my senses, but it was unexplainable to me. Mom felt it before the rift appeared, and instantly, mom knew who it was causing all this chaos, but before she could say something to dad and me, Vitani was ripped out of mom's arms. She landed near a rogue that was still looking for more blood. Drawing the nasty creature's attention to my horror. The creature quickly moved its head to where the noise came from. Its hungry eyes locking onto Vitani. Mom tried to move but wasn't fast enough. The vampire had picked up Vitani and was baring it's fangs near her neck when it dawned on mom that Vitani wasn't crying. She wasn't even fazed. She was looking at Tempest, and together, they looked at you, Storm.

Mom said what she saw made her heart stop. Your eyes were glowing a light gray, and then soon it faded with a bright white light taking over. Dad shouted with a panicked "Tempest nooooo. What's going on? Tempest, where did you go?" Tempest slowly faded into nothing. Then we all looked in horror at Vitani, disappearing too. Storming lies, you were the only one who did not. Your eyes slowly returned to normal, but they were no longer your original faded green. They were a mix of faded green, dark blue, and reddish orange. Mom and dad ran to us, and we stood there among the chaos. Staring in pure awe and utter confusion. You looked at mom, then dad, and up at me. You smiled and giggled. A voice spoke in our minds, " We are fine. Together, all three of us are known as Nightshade. We know that what just happened terrified you, but it had to be done. We are still three different people, but for our safety and yours. You must not tell anyone on the outside. You must look distraught as we have been kidnapped. You will take precautions, however, with Storming Lies to keep her safe. When the time is right, we will separate into our own bodies, but do keep this in mind, too. There is no magic or alchemy more powerful than us three, and we will not nor can not be forced apart. We will grow and get stronger, for there is a war coming, and it has already started. The day each of us was conceived. Love us and Leon. Show us how to be the best we can be."

Just like that, the voice was gone. It lasted maybe a minute tops. We came back to our senses, and none of us had realized that we had continued to move with the crowd. We came home with not a word. Mom held out her arms to me, and you and I understood. She wanted to hold her three girls, and dad took mom's elbow to lead her to the couch so they could cuddle. Dad got mom situated and then sat next to her. I joined them, and we sat there in silence, trying to come to terms with what happened. Soon, though, we all fell asleep, and nobody moved until the next morning. That was when mom and dad decided not to tell you girls what had taken place for the first two years of your lives unless it was unavoidable." Leon finished.

Taking everything in, we sat in silence, trying to wrap our brains around this whole thing. I mean, it makes sense to a point, but it still doesn't explain why two demon deities would be so concerned about us being safe. What about Tempest and Vitani's parents? Where are they, and what happened to them? Vitani and Tempest quietly agreed on something before speaking it out aloud to me. "It doesn't matter what happened to them or why they gave us up. We grew up with parents and siblings who cared about and supported us. We wouldn't have our level of power if they hadn't taken us in."Our parents were taken from us when we were ten years old. That's all that matters." Hearing that made me think back to the night we were forced to separate from our parents. " Leon?"Hmm?" he hummed in response.

"The night we were attacked, that dark magic I had unleashed. Do you remember what caused that and what I looked like?" Leon looked at me while thinking back to that night. "Kinda remember what you look like, but as for the magic, no. I do have an idea, though." He thought back so he could explain it better. "Your eye color combined as well as your hair and skin tone too. I'm not wondering if Nightshade came out and was very angry. Which could be the cause of the black-colored magic. It could necessarily be possible that it wasn't black magic at all. Just emotionally charged magic. I don't think Nightshade is capable of being evil. I think she reacts to all three of your emotions." "Or circumstances." I thought out aloud. Vitani, Tempest, and I all agreed it was possible. Shane then spoke up, "Wow, that's a lot of s*** you girls went through. I wonder, though, how knowing this figures out how to find the girls' life partners." Leon kinda looks at him and smiles creepily. "One has already been found. Ain't that right, Shane?"