Supernova - Chapter 4: Hoping with all my heart

 Amirah Cullen

 

“I’m proud of you for staying so strong. For getting so many answers.” Axton spoke but I didn’t know what to say. Axton knelt before me, but I was playing the meeting over and over in my head.

“Mia.” He said softly and I finally looked up at him again. “You’re scared because you think he’s telling the truth,” he said with a nod.

“I don’t know what is truth or deception, but if he’s correct. If a war on demons is coming. Esther can beat them, right?” I asked scanning his face, but his expression told me differently.

“They’re her one and only weakness.” He informed me and I shook my head in disbelief.

“The Life and Death twins.” I said next.

“Demons are not of our realm. They come from somewhere else. We’re not sure where but they don’t follow the rules of our universe. Life and Death will have no effect on them.” He explained and nothing he was saying was making me feel better.

“So what beats them?” I asked.

“Magic can, to some extent. Natural forces.” He listed.

“We should ask your father,” I said with a nod.

“Mia, I don’t think that’s wise. Not before we tell your family about this; before we can validate his story. There are people in the Volturi that will be able to translate his prophecy. That will be able to tell if this is fake or not.”

“I want to see Cain,” I said ignoring his words.

“I don’t think we should trust my father with this.” He argued.

“I trust him. He’s only ever helped me. If knew he anything of this, he would tell me.” I insisted.

“I know you do, but I don’t,” he said but my anger was flooding my body. The more blood I drank the more heightened everything about me was, the more anger my wolf side felt, the more power my witch side felt, the stronger my vampire side was. I locked eyes with Axton before I reached to my neck and held the necklace in my hand.

“Mia,” he sighed frustrated before I disappeared from in front of him. I stood, my emotions high, into the cosy lounge I knew so well.

Cain was Axton and Alena’s birth father. They had a complicated and strange relationship with the immortal warlock. He had helped me greatly as I aged but my entire vampire family had no idea he helped me.  The necklace I wore was a teleportation beacon he spelled so I could visit him in his house tucked away in Romania. It had a day recharge after two uses.

“Amirah,” he greeted me entering the room. I stood, emotion still overwhelming me, as I stared at my mentor.  “What is the matter dear?” He asked suddenly. I fell to the ancient chair that sat by his fireplace.

“What do you know about demons?” I asked him.

“Demons? Why heavens are you asking that?”

“Just tell me what you know please,” I asked him, and he slowly sat in the chair opposite me. He had a timeless era to him. He reminded me a lot of Esther. He radiated power and knowledge and had wisdom beyond anyone I had ever met.

“Demons are shadows. At least that’s what we used to call them millennia ago. It was believed that the sun in the sky would watch us, the shadows it cast of our forms were the evil within everyone. It was why children had small shadows and they only grew with time. Of course, this was before science, in a world full of fairy tales and fallacy. It was believed our shadows were the devil constantly tempting us into evil acts. When the sun was beyond the horizon, our shadows ran free in the night. It was believed, when someone died and passed on, their shadow was free to realm the world unburdened by its mortal owner.” He explained.

“There can’t be truth in that. Shadows aren’t demons,” I said sure of the science I was taught as a child.

“You are correct. However, demons can live in our shadows. So not all shadows are demons, but any shadow can be.”

“Have you met a demon?” I asked him.

“It’s not as simple as that. Demons don’t have a corporeal form. They exist on a hidden plane in our world. They are there but very few actually make it across into our world and they can only latch onto extremely vulnerable and weakened individuals here. You may past a dozen a day and you would have no idea.” He explained and paused when I didn’t respond. “Why are you asking me about demons Amirah?” He asked studying my face. I wanted to ask about Esther, about why they’re her weakness but I wasn’t sure it was my place to discuss her around Cain.

“What would happen if, say, a few demons came to this realm? Could they create an army of sorts? Something to attack us?” I asked.

“They have been trying to do that for millennia but there are natural boundaries in place to stop that. The sun. It isn’t just a ball of gas in the sky. As the moon has powers of magic and created your friends that are Luna Bambini, the sun has immense power too.”

“Celestial bodies have magic?” I asked sceptically.

“Some believe the radiation from the sun is a form of magic yes. But what I know is that they are, at the very least, a catalyst for magic. The witches harnessed that catalyst to tie Esther’s species to the power of the moon. It is believed that someone did the same for the sun to protect us against demons.” He said with a nod.

“And you don’t know who this someone is?” I asked him, how did the oldest warlock in the world not know who harnessed the suns power?

“Why are you asking me about a demon army Amirah? What brings this thought to your mind?” He asked changing the subject. I knew Cain well. It meant he was avoiding answering the question which meant he knew who had harnessed the sun. He just didn’t want to tell me.

“Thank for your honesty Cain. I must return to Axton,” I said playing him at his own game.

“Amirah.” He said sternly as I stood and reached for the necklace.

“It is a hypothetical situation Cain. I am merely interested in the subject. Thank you again. I’ll see you soon,” I said as I teleported back to my home. It was quiet and it was empty.

I pulled out my phone to see missed calls from Alena.

I dialled her back quickly, but she appeared in front of me instead.

“You need to come back to Chicago.” She said walking up my stairs to my bedroom. She began packing a bag for me.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“You’ll be staying at mine for a while,” she informed me as she continued packing my things.

“Um, why would I be doing that?” I asked.

“Get your pack ready to mobilise if you want them with you, but you have to leave tonight,” she said ignoring my question.

“Alena.” I said and stepped in front of her.

“Axton told Zio about your meeting with Vicente. Vicente has requested an audience with the court. Zio wants you there. If he validates Vicente’s story he’s going to have his entire pack and their mysterious alpha flown to Chicago within the week. He wants to hear everything they have to say.” She explains.

“Then I need to avoid Chicago.”

“He could be your imprint,” Alena said the words and it took a moment for me to register what she was saying. I laughed. “Laugh all you want, but when words like destiny and prophecy are being flown around imprint isn’t such a leap, don’t you think?” She asked and I stared at her, realising she was deadly serious. “Isn’t that the answer? We don’t need validation on a prophecy if you imprint. We’d all know it was the truth.” She clarified. I didn’t know how to reply to her, so she just turned back to continue packing me some clothes. “I’m going to just throw all your easy clothes in here. I feel you’re going to be phasing quite a bit if we’re about to go to war,” she mused before reaching for my toiletries on my dressing table. She held her hand over a picture of the three of us by my mirror. She paused and her finger ran down the image of her brother.

“I hope he survives this,” she said and I could see her face through the reflection of the mirror. “He loves you. More than I even think he loves me. He’s been preparing for this for forty years and I’m still scared it’s going to destroy him,” she said but it was like she realised who she was talking to and she shook out of her trance and turned to look at me. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry this might be happening.” She said.

“Me too,” I mumbled as the realisation dawned on me. We had been asking for decades why me? Why was I the only one of my kind? Had my parents really just got ‘lucky’ with their genes? There had never been a pair like them before but why not? Vampires, witches and shapeshifters had procreated before and children were only born as hybrids. Never something like me.

“Zio has ordered a private jet to arrive at nine tonight. If you want your wolves to come you need to get them ready. It’s big enough for them all to travel to Chicago.” Alena informed me and swung my bag onto her shoulder. “You’ll be on that flight, right?” She asked. I nodded and before I could ask another question she was gone from in front of my eyes. I turned and sat on the edge of my bed as I tried to absorb the events of the last few hours.

Pack meeting within the hour. Get to First beach. Everyone, no excuses. I placed in the minds of my pack, both human and wolf alike. I didn’t connect myself to the pack mind because I didn’t want the questions. I stood and walked straight to my kitchen. I had two fridges, one full of human food, one full of blood. I grabbed a bottle and started to down the cold liquid into my body. I wasn’t sure how much blood I could take but I drank until I felt like I couldn’t take anymore. I was shaking as I felt my body convert it to power. I knew I was going to need it and it was a nice reminder. That I was powerful. That I could beat whatever it was that was coming for us. Right?

“Princess?” I heard Elliot’s voice at the door and a knock to follow. I sighed as walked over to answer it. He stood as he stared at me, his eyes watching my face. “You’re jacked,” he said shocked.

“Maybe,” I mumbled as I let him enter my house.

“Mia, what’s going on?” He asked and I frowned at his use of my name. It was extremely rare he called me by that name. I didn’t mind it, after all he was once my boyfriend. It would have been weird if he never actually called me by my name, but it had been literal decades. He was my best friend now, but he still only called me princess.

“I just needed to feel my power. To know I have it.”

“Please tell me why you’re calling a meeting.”

“You’ll find out in an hour,” I said but he wasn’t budging. I explained everything and by the end of it. I was crying. He pulled me into a hug to try and control my sobs.

“You gotta calm down. I’ve seen what happens when you’re high on power and upset.” He said holding me tighter. I tried to focus on the sound of his heartbeat in my ear. Tried to focus on the steady drum of it against his chest.

“I just want to be normal; I don’t want to be tidied to destiny and saving the world.” I whispered as I pulled away from him.

“I don’t want to be this good looking, but we all have our crosses to bear,” he winked, and I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m sorry princess. But if this is real, you have so many by your side ready to fight with you. You won’t be alone in this.” He said and reached to kiss my forehead.

“Thank you,” I sighed, and he smiled down at me.

“You’re welcome. I will follow you to the ends of the earth and into a demon realm if I have to. Let’s go tell the wolves they’ve got to suit up for the biggest fight of their lives,” he said taking my hand and leading me out of my own house.

“I’ll give them a choice. I won’t be leading them into a war unless they want to be there,” I said as we took jogging down the road.

“You seem to have a lack of understanding at the loyalty you inspire in them.” He said with a sideways glance at me. I shook the thought from my head as I went to meet my wolves.

Upon explaining the situation Elliot had been right. They all bowed, falling to a knee before me in submission.

“You are our queen, we will be by your side always,” Emori said as the first to kneel before me.

“Juni, you’re staying,” I said seeing the fourteen-year-old kneel before me in devotion.

“What? No, I’m not!” he shouted.

“You are staying!” I roared back, the alphas order coating my words. He fell immediately back to his knees in submission. “I am sorry Juni. No one under the age of eighteen is accompanying me. We still need to protect La Push. That will be your duties. A few of the veterans will assist in patrols but you, both, will be the most important asset. You know the ways of our pack the best. You will protect our people.” I said looking between Juni and Leona. She had just turned seventeen and I knew she’d hate me for leaving her behind, but my conscience couldn’t justify letting her come. She nodded in response and Juni mumbled an okay.

“The rest of you. We leave at nine tonight. We need to leave within the hour to get to Seattle airport in time. Say goodbye to your families and tell them I’m sorry,” I said looking at the eyes of each of my wolves.

“They’ll understand,” Tyrion said standing along with the others accepting their new orders.

I nodded in response. Hoping with all my heart he was right.