Pernicious | Kai Parker

Chapter 16

 Amelia didn't understand why she was suddenly desirable.

"What do you mean he wants me?" she asked. "The fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you know about Traveler history?"

"Just that they can't settle down and they hate witches."

Julian beckoned her closer. "Your condition is a genetic defect, you know this, yes?"

She nodded, and he continued, "That defect first appeared in a Traveler, before the Gemini, Misceo, and Sorve Covens existed. It was a trait that was quite revered, in the early days, but the three Covens despised it, and saw it as wicked. When they began hunting Travelers, the Travelers responded with cursing each of them— they would be forced to have members of their Covens randomly born with that defect, and they would have to perform the Merge ceremony. It ensured they would either learn to be accepting and aid in establishing a peace with the Travelers, or it would ensure the Covens would tear each other apart. You can guess which one happened. The Covens began to argue when it came to finding a solution for this curse. The Gemini Coven wished to kill the siphoners. The Sorve Coven wished to send them away. The Misceo Coven wanted to perform a spell to rid them of their curse. The Merge, they could seemingly deal with. The siphoners were the real problem to them.

"The Misceo and Sorve Covens came to an agreement— they wanted to turn the siphoners into normal witches. They dabbled in dark magic, and it infected many of their members, leading to more siphoners being born— this time, siphoners with extremely psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies. It made it worse. The Gemini Coven had to get the Covens to disband once too many siphoners were popping up. They killed all the siphoners of the Sorve and Misceo Covens. Any surviving members were told to leave, and never return to the place of their origin. Through the centuries, the Gemini Coven has remained intact, ridding the world of siphoners while tracking the Travelers. They believe that if the Travelers are gone, the curse will be, too, and they won't have to deal with siphoners and the Merge anymore.

"In the 1700s, the Gemini Coven began to create prison worlds— alternate and parallel dimensions where they could imprison the siphoners, forcing them to live in solitude, bound to a world where they could never die or age. It was their idea of a punishment for a condition they couldn't control. Why did they do it, you ask? Because the siphoners became more violent in that time. They didn't like being oppressed. The dark magic of the Misceo and Sorve Covens persisted in some of the surviving members... some of which, after generations, joined the Gemini Coven, and unknowingly made the curse worse. The worst siphoners were killed. Those who were more tolerable, were locked away, as if they were children in a time-out who would come back home cured of bad behavior, when really, it was something they could never hope to control. Many prison worlds, after a few decades, were made to collapse, killing the siphoners in them. At the moment, I know of only two prison worlds— one from 1903, and one from 1994. I don't know how many siphoners there are in total, between those two worlds, but I imagine they were violent, though not violent enough to be killed for it. You, my dear, are lucky."

"Lucky?" she said in shock. "Lucky for what?"

"You really think those twins appeared in Whitmore to study? No, they were sent by their Coven to watch over the Travelers and watch over you. They must have done a routine check of Misceo and Sorve descendants, and found you. If you were a threat to them, they would have locked you away by now. You are, perhaps, the first siphoner in centuries that hasn't displayed sociopathic or psychopathic tendencies in mortal form. The others, they each had the markers for it... at least once, they did something that made everyone afraid of them."

"Why— why did you say mortal form? Are some siphoners... immortal?"

Julian gestured for her to come even closer. "This is not something you should tell your friends," he whispered. "Because, from the looks of it, they have a habit of using people to get what they want, and if your friend Damon were to find out that this is possible... he would weaponize you with no hesitation, and I fear that would be the moment your violent nature would come to light."