Salvage: Book 3 of the Magic Mutations Series

4: Olivia

November, 2018

"Anjea?" I repeated.

She nodded with such enthusiasm, like it was something she was most proud of. Like it was something that was self-explanatory.

"I'm afraid I'm not... well-versed enough on all of my mythical creatures," I said when she didn't rush to explain.

But Marli merely rolled her eyes. "Mythical," she scoffed. "Yeah, sure. Anyway, Anjea are what are often referred to in modern literature as 'fertility spirits'. But we're really more than that. We locate spirit or soul—however you want to look at it—of the deceased, reform them within our being, and eventually place them in the wombs of pregnant people we pass by so that the person can reincarnate."

"You... find souls?" My heart winced as I immediately began to wonder if someone picked up Ben's.

She nodded, a warm soft smile colouring her face as she evidently saw who I was thinking about.

"Does... every living being have a soul?" It felt as though I was pleading at this point. But I had to know.

"Of course. Why?" Her eyes narrowed, suspicion clouding her gaze.

But instead of answering her question, I asked another. "Even vampires?"

The joy slowly slipped off her face, pain beginning to mar her expression.

And any hope that was brewing in me that there'd still be a life after death for him quickly evaporated from my body.

"Why do you ask, Ol?" she hesitantly replied. "Did you meet one?"

My teeth gnawed at my bottom lip as I wondered how was best to reply.

"They can't come back from the dead," she quickly added. "They can't hurt you if they're gone, okay? You don't need to—"

"He'd never hurt me," I quickly interrupted her, anger starting to fill every fibre of my being at the fact she'd even suggested it... as though she could know who we were talking about in riddles.

"Who—"

"Just because the books said vampires were hunting my kind doesn't mean they're all monsters," I added before she could go on.

"Hey," she replied, hand extending between us, "I never said they were monsters... but you can't say they aren't danger—"

"They aren't."

"Olivia... you read the exact same books I—"

"Ben wasn't dangerous."

The final puzzle slipped into her place on her face as her eyes turned solemn. "Ben was a mutation?"

I nodded. "And Erica and Jayce were witches. And Ivan, Loren, and Drake were vampires..."

"And Lukas?"

My lips pursed together.

"I know you and your bestie had a fall out, but—"

"Vampire and witch," I said, because that conversation was easier than going back to our complicated history.

"I see..." was all she said.

As her eyes turned to the floor, and the screech of birds began to grow deafening, eventually I mumbled, "They were my friends. They'd never hurt me." Though the lie tasted bitter in my mouth. Because what did Lukas wipe from my memories? What truths would I never know?

"I'm sure," she whispered... but then her head snapped up suddenly, alarm filling her eyes.

"What's—"