Midnight Run

What Happens in Mexico

Mr. Mentley steered the boat to the docking station and Kit and Skye gathered up their things. Skye was on the phone with someone speaking in Spanish as a sleepy-eyed Jaxton came down the ladder. As the boat neared the docking station, Jaxton came over and gave Kit a side hug which Kit returned, smiling down at the boy who made her feel like family. The docking station was fairly busy as Mr. Mentley came to a stop. A couple of men hopped on board and started tying up the boat as Mr. Mentley came down the ladder to greet them. Skye finished her conversation and pulled out an envelope from her duffel bag. Kit peaked over her mom’s shoulder to see what was in the envelope and saw a bunch of 100-dollar bills. Skye pulled out a stack of bills and made her way over to Mr. Mentley. Kit stood back with Jaxton who was watching the people mill around the dock. Mr. Mentley gave Skye a big hug and thanked her, to which Skye nodded her head and smiled back at him. She motioned for Kit and after Kit said her goodbyes to Mr. Mentley, they hopped off the boat and made their way into the city of Tampico, Mexico.

“Who was that on the phone?” Kit asked Skye as she slung her bag onto her back.

“Family that is going to help us cross the border.” Skye replied as she sent a text on her cell phone. She waited until she got a text back before tossing the cell phone into the nearest trash can. “There is a very dangerous pack that resides near the border, so I contacted some people as back up.” Skye took a deep breath before stopping dead in her tracks to turn and look at Kit. “Kitina, we are almost back to the states.” Skye began. “And although we haven't been met with any serious danger yet, the states are probably the most dangerous for a hybrid.” Kit let out a shaky breath that she didn't realize she had been holding but nodded her head in understanding. “I need you to do everything that I say without argument regardless of what it is, okay?” Skye asked sternly. Kit nodded her head as she twirled her necklace between her fingers.

“Okay, mom.” She agreed. Skye nodded her head in satisfaction.

“We have a 10-hour window to make it up to Matamoros and cross the border undetected by the authorities.” Skye announced, slinging her duffel bag over her shoulder. She looked around, grabbed Kit’s hand and started walking north. They walked for 30 minutes before Skye found a car and hot-wired it. They sped north and Skye had Kit pull another burner phone from the duffel bag. Kit pulled out a package and tore the packaging off the phone before turning the phone on, setting it up and going into the google maps app. They were 5 hours away from their destination and they had a 10-hour window. Kit thought that they would be fine, but Skye stressed the sooner they got across the border, the better. Mexico was extremely dangerous for rogue werewolves, especially one that was a hybrid.

Kit pulled out the pictures of her mom, dad, and her two aunts. Skye glanced over at the picture. “That feels like a lifetime ago.” She shared leaning into Kit to look closer at the picture. “That’s your Aunt Charisma, your dad’s sister.” She said pointing to one of the younger girls who was sitting in front of the group. “And that...” She added, pointing to the other little girl who had an arm wrapped around Skye’s shoulders. “Is your Aunt Monique.” She paused as she took a deep breath. “My younger sister.” Kit quickly looked up at her mom, hoping that she was ready to explain. Her mom had never mentioned having a sibling which Kit thought was weird as her parents had talked about Charisma before.

“Why have you never mentioned her before?” Kit asked as she looked back down at the picture. Skye brought her hand up to her forehead and massaged her temple with her pointer finger and thumb. She stared at a spot off in the distance as she continued driving through Mexico.

“Your dad kept in contact with Charisma after we left the town.” Skye began. “They had a magical way of communicating without their messages getting intercepted by others and she had told your dad that Monique had joined another pack, the Tundra Pack’s biggest werewolf rivals.” Kit shifted her body to look fully at Skye as she continued her story. “Monique’s mate is the brother of the Sun Moon Pack’s alpha, and he and his brother are some of the most ruthless werewolves ever.”

“How could she do that?” Kit asked in shock, to which Skye simply shook her head.

“The mate bond is the most unbreakable type of bond for a werewolf and vampire.” Skye explained. “To break the mate bond is like dying, your soul can't handle that kind of strain and it leaves the person in the worst pain imaginable.” She finished sadly. Kit stared at her. Kit wasn’t familiar with the ways of the supernatural world since she wasn’t brought up around it, but she couldn’t imagine her mom going through life while dealing with that kind of pain at having lost her mate. It made Kit appreciate her mom even more than she already did. Kit continued to flip through the journal and remembered some interesting facts about supernatural's that she wanted to address with her mom.

“Vampires can walk in the sunlight?” Kit asked confusedly. That fact went against everything she had ever seen or read about in movies and books. Skye burst into laughter.

“Yes, contrary to what those sappy teen romance movies will tell you.” She expressed in between her laughter. “It's very uncomfortable for vampires to be in direct sunlight and it weakens their powers, but they don’t burst into dust, they don’t twinkle in the sunlight, and they don’t catch on fire.” She finished rolling her eyes at the ridiculousness that supernatural beings had been turned into.

“So are vampires and werewolves real enemies?” Kit asked fascinated.

“Yes.” Skye answered brusquely. Kit waited patiently for her mom to elaborate. “The factions have never gotten along, since the beginning of time they have always tried to outdo each other, prove that one faction was better than the rest.” Skye retorted in disgust. “The factions broke apart mates and families, condemning anyone who pursued a relationship with someone outside of their own faction and killing off any hybrids that were born. The vampires are the worst when it comes to ensuring that each faction remains pure, to avoid blood mixing because they can't reproduce. They didn’t want any other faction becoming stronger than them.” Skye said, as she looked at Kit. “Of the factions, the werewolves and the vampires are the most solid, and both factions have very different beliefs. Vampires are cold-hearted, ruthless, blood sucking fiends who very rarely choose to tap into their emotions while werewolves are all about family, loyalty and trust. They believe in protecting those who cannot protect themselves and are driven by emotion.” She explained. Kit was listening intently as Skye continued. “While none of the factions get along, the werewolves are the only group of supernaturals to ever challenge the vampires.” She smiled as though reminiscing about something. “Your grandpa, Alpha Melik, is the first known werewolf to successfully form a truce with a group of vampires.” Kit beamed at this new information as she looked down at the journal in her hands. “Your dad put that journal together just for you.” Skye murmured smiling at Kit. “With the hopes that you could learn about our world and someday join it.” She said as Kit looked up at her with big, curious eyes. “There’s a lot to learn.” She finished before giving Kit’s knee a big squeeze.