18 | ANTISEPTIC AND GINGER

I feel more relaxed than I have in days as I get up the next morning. Mom didn’t come home last night, but she’s here when I wake up. The sounds of breakfast being made softly float into the room as I sit up and shuffle into the kitchen. To my surprise, Hale’s here too. This morning, he’s cooking and Mom’s sitting at the island, nursing a large mug of a steaming and strong smelling tea of some sort.

The slight acrid scent of it reminds me of antiseptic and ginger. My nose twitches as I try to sort out the scents, but the more I try to pick out and name the individual smells, they merge. A shiver rolls through my spine and it’s like there’s a glamor over the stuff.

“Good morning, Sunshine.” Hale turns off the stove and turns to face me.

“Wisty, you’re up early.” Mom sits up straighter in her chair, and from here, I swear I hear her bones creek. My Wolven senses blaze to the surface, but the smell of the tea forces them back to their normal dullness. I cover my nose as the strong smelling stuff fades to a tolerable level.

“That stuff smell gross.” I grumble, not willing to get any closer to my mom until she downs the rest of the contents of her mug.

“It’s just some herbal brew from my botanist friend.” Mom waves me off when I quirk an eyebrow at her. Last year, she’d brought quite a few herbs I’d never seen before into the greenhouse and mentioned a ‘botanist friend’. I can’t help wondering if that’s code for some sort of supernatural I’ve yet to meet or something else. Then again, maybe I’m just being paranoid. But considering everything that happened, I’d like to think I’m just being cautious.

“It smells like antiseptic and ginger.” I relay what I was able to suss out before as I take my seat beside her. Mom laughs, reaching over to wrap her arms around me and envelope me in a hug. I hold her back, giving her a gentle squeeze before letting her go and smiling at her softly. “You know, don’t you?”

“Of course, I know. I’m your mother.” Mom scolds me with a little false-annoyance - all the while fighting a smile. It’s a weird sort of smile that stays in her eyes - a nostalgic look in them that sends a tendril of fear through me.

“Mikyle told us about the King.” Hale turns my attention back to him as he brings a steaming plate of pancakes over to me. Their color raises some flags in my head - the color a rusty-brownish with flecks of chocolate chips.

“Are those…” I trail off, poking at the stack with a fingers. The scent of blood wafts into my nose and I allow my question to die off on my tongue. “Hm…” I mutter, ripping off a chunk and munching on the surprisingly good pairing. Hale smirks, passing me a fork and bottle of dark red stuff I assume is also blood or maybe blood-syrup.

“You don’t seem as concerned about this as Mikyle led on,” Mom notes after a beat. I feel my chewing of the pancake slow and swallow the sweet and sticky mass as it becomes tasteless in my mouth. She’s talking about the figurative fly in my drink when I’m thinking more about the metaphorical weird chunks bobbing in there.

“Right. About that…” I murmur softly and set my fork down. “Do you guys know what an Ancient is?” At the mention of the being, Hale’s eyes flare an acid-green, burning bright for a second before dimming back to jade.

“You failed to mention this to Mikyle,” Hale says with absolute certainty.

“No, I *kept* it from Mikyle. You and I both know how he’d have reacted if I’d told him.” I mutter to my father. Hale nods slowly and looks to Mom.

“They’re the equivalent of Grim Reapers or a *Beta* to the Creator.” Hale surprises me with the easy-to-follow analogy. This knowledge sending a mini-wave of nausea over me as I reevaluate the situation. “What did they want?”

“Um…her name’s Nikki. She basically told me Blue and I screwed the world over and sped-up the apocalypse.” I summarize in a high and dry tone as I stare at my pancakes. The syrup I’d poured over it dripping a strawberry-red down the stack.

“Oh, is that all?” Mom breathes after a moment of silence. I look up at her with a sheepish grin, sure my face is as pale as her’s is now as she stares back at me.

“I assume this is an issue she’s in the process of resolving?” Hale asks me, his tone wary and tired. *Poor old vamp, in the last year I’ve probably given him more to deal with than he has in decades.*

“Yeah, kind of. She wants me to help. I mean it’s only right since I’m part of the reason it’s all gone to hell.” I keep Blue out of it. I’d rather not let my parents know just how messed up things are between me and my mate. “I talked to Paris. She, Ry, and Craven volunteered to be part of the team to help out when Nikki gets back to me on what we’re going to do.” I keep out the bits where I’ll be deciding the general way in which we’ll be dealing with things, but I think I have a good idea about that anyway.

“You went to the Reinier’s territory?” Mom sounds surprised, but has her poker-face on now. I’m not sure how things are between her and my cousins, considering Mom kind of defected to the Azure Pack last year.

“Yeah, Parri wanted me to visit for a while and after everything with the Ancient…” I shrug, looking at her sheepishly. “I just wanted to talk to her face-to-face.”

“Well, that’s nice of them to offer,” Hale tells me, and I look back to him. “But you know you could have just come to me. We have an entire Coven’s resources at our disposal.”

“*Your* Coven-” I remind him, rolling my eyes, but he cuts me off.

“No, Sunshine. *Our* Coven. You are my daughter and only heir. As such, they will be as loyal to you as they are to me. All of them.” Hale tells me firmly. I stare back at him in surprise.

“Just like that?” My queasiness comes back as I think about all the vamps in Hale’s Coven. Everyone there treated him like an Alpha - well, no, more like a King. There was a sense of firm and undying loyalty rolling off each and every one of them. In a Pack, there’s loyalty, sure, but it’s more like a family. In the Coven, it’s like a bee hive. Everyone’s a drone, and Hale’s the Queen.

“Yes, Sunshine. Just like that.” This time, I’m not sure if he’s replying more to the question I asked, or the dawning expression I feel on my face. “Whatever you need, the Coven will do their best to provide.” He tells me, clearing it up before I can ask for clarification.

“I don’t want to be a dictator. I’ll ask for help, but volunteers only.” I decide, sitting up straight and pushing aside the swirling typhoon of emotions in me. They can wait to be sorted later.

“Great. We can gather the Coven for a meeting and ask for your volunteers. Of course, you can count me in on whatever it is you need, Sunshine.” Hale says, giving me a little smile. I nod to him and look to Mom. She seems more tired than ever, though there’s no outward sign of sleeplessness on her face or in her expressions. It’s more like the energy that normally radiates off of her is different now. Less…bright.

“And don’t you forget about me, young lady.” Mom scolds jokingly, her brilliant smile infectious.

“I know, Mom.” I say the words, but I don’t mean them. Something off about her, and there’s no way I’m going to ask her for more than she’s already done for me. But I say it anyway, just to appease her. “You’re always here when I need you.”

“That’s what mothers are for, Wisty.” Mom murmurs, that weird look on her face as she reaches over and smooths some of the red curls from my face. “Well, I’m off. I have to open at *Lia’s* this morning.” Mom lens over and plants a kiss on my forehead before hopping off her stool and going over to Hale. I turn my face away as the two embrace - the sight of their affection something I’m not used to. “I’ll be home in time for dinner, Wisty, so be sure to save me something.” When she says ‘something’ I know that’s her code for ‘without-blood’ and flash her a smirk.

“Yes, ma’am.” I reply, waving as she dashes out of the house with the keys to the car and her apron for the Azure’s grocery store, *Lia’s*.

“Once you’re done eating, we’ll head over to the Coven.” Hale tells me, picking at his own set of pancakes once Mom’s gone.

“Hm.” I hum, picking up my fork as I look over my father’s calm face. “Is there anything I should know?” I let my words carry as much meaning as I can. Hale looks right back at me, his calm, jade eyes - the glamor color - shimmering out of existence. For a few minutes, the powerful glamor that normally coats his body and scent, making him look like a normal middle-aged human falls away. Before me stands the true visage of my father, skin so pale it’s almost got it’s own glow, eyes a somber evergreen that’s deep yet vibrant, skin timeless and smooth. And that ancient presence of a creature that’s seen too much blazes around me.

My vampire side cringes the way my Wolven side used to under an Alpha’s gaze when I was little. The raw power from Hale quickly flickers out as the glamor settles back over his skin and he raises an eyebrow at me.

“There’s still a lot we should discuss about the supernatural world, but no. There’s nothing you need to know at the moment, Scarlett.” Hale replies, my name sounds odd after months of hearing his nickname for me, Sunshine. It makes me want to rewind everything that just happened and mentally go over it with a fine-tooth comb. It makes me feel like something really is off - or there’s something my parents are keeping from me. “Eat your food before it gets cold, Sunshine.” Hale adds quickly, his usual calm and light tone erasing some of the weirdness from the morning. I nod, more to myself than him, and begin to cut up and consume the breakfast he’d made.

All the while, something in the back of my head keeps nagging at me. Something just out of my grasp about one of the things I smelled - but wasn’t able to put into words. Something oddly familiar that slowly begins to resonate in my memories, but remains hidden.