Where She Belongs

Antonino

"We don't have to." I quickly tell her.

"Yes. We do. We need to talk about all of it Sammy." She sits up, reaching for my hand. "I don't even know where to begin."

"When you found the other people that had hybrids, what were they really like? I don't want to hear any more lies Mum. You owe me some truths." For someone not wanting to get into it, I guess I kind of did.

"You weren't like them. You were so tiny and frail. I spent hours worrying over you as a baby, constantly checking if you were breathing as you would sleep so deep and silently and feel so cold no matter how I bundled you up. You rarely cried, and getting you to feed was a struggle. You were just too tired most of the time and as soon as you'd start, you'd stop. My mother told me you were to weak for this world, to prepare myself for when you would finally give up." This time when she smiled, it was warm and genuine. "But you didn't. Even then you were a fighter and gods you were so beautiful. Your skin was like porcelain and you'd been born with all that dark hair that you kept. Well, except for this tiny little patch by your right ear that left you with a little bald spot."

She takes my hand and I let her.

"Your father hated seeing you struggling so much. In some ways he was more protective of you than I was; few were allowed to hold you. He was always scared they'd do something to hurt you, forget how little you were and treat you like any other pup. You know what little, chubby monsters your brothers were." Mum shrugs slightly. "I don't know how he found out about hybrids. He came home late one night from work, talking about vampires and how rare it was that it could even happen, and despite choosing to ignore what had happened between David and I, we couldn't anymore as your life depended on us facing the fact that you were different."

"You make it sound liked Dad actually cared."

"I've always told you he loves you, just in his own way."

"That way has sucked." I roll my eyes. "So he found these people with hybrids?"

"Yes. We told people we were going to see a specialist to see if there was anything that could be done for you, and drove to Seattle. He found the bar he'd heard about it and paid his contact to get us the details of a family that apparently had a daughter like you. They were reluctant to start with, obviously as wary with strangers as what we were and things started out well. We never went into too many details, just the basics and they seemed to know what you needed. Within days you were different. We had to mix, blood, with your bottles for you to take them. Even just from that you became more alert. Your skin wasn't so cold. You gained nearly three hundred grams within that first week!" She closed her eyes, a few tears appearing to run down her cheek. "We'd been there nearly two weeks when Eliza asked what we were going to do with you."

"Eliza?"

"The other mother. Her daughter was nearly two, but she wasn't like any two year old I'd ever come across before." Mum shuddered. "They used to dose her with a sedative, it was the only way they could control that poor little girl. Her bedroom was more like a cage. Bars on the window with bullet proof glass, I'll never forget how sad she looked in there."

"She was a baby." I whispered.

"They offered to take you. Told us we wouldn't be able to keep you a secret once you started to grow. Your moods would be unpredictable, you'd be stronger than the average wolf pup and once your fangs appeared your urges to hunt and to feed on anything made you a danger to the world, not just us. It was a burden to keep her alive they said, if we insisted on doing the same with you, our lives would never be our own again. We'd have to keep you contained, fed and sedated too."

"But you didn't?" My heart began to thump in my chest as my mind raced backwards to see if there was some childhood memory I'd chosen to forget.

"Of course not!" She sounded so offended I'd even consider it.