Chapter Fourteen (Lazarus)

Well, that went well. I grumbled to myself after I was alone, what the hell was I thinking? My plan was to get close to her so I could get to know her, not try to control her. I am not my mother. I scolded myself; What I want is for her to care about me, not be manipulated into thinking she does. Although discovering she was a witch could be quite helpful in the future.

When I see her again, I will apologize. Hopefully, I can fix this, I don’t want her getting the wrong idea about me, I can’t help how my abilities work, I have little control over them. Being half demon made things difficult. Others in my home didn’t know what my mother was. They assumed that she was a demon because that was what she wanted them to believe. She could bend people to her will, well everyone but Sin, which is why I am stuck in the middle in the first place. She hated him even tried to assassinate him when he was a baby.

“Finally, I found you.” Hellebore scolded as she walked out from the shadows.

“How did you find me, is a better question, mother?” I replied, annoyed. I told her I would come back once I had my fated mate, so why is bothering me here?
“Tsk, tsk.” She scolded as she walked closer to me and gripping my injured leg and squeezing it. I flinched in pain as she smiled. “You should know better when messing with witches, son.” She smiled evilly.

“What do you want mother, I am kind of undercover, you want that crown or not?” I spat, trying not to let the pain radiating in my leg affect me. Being human would be a punishment worse than death. How do they deal with day-to-day life and being so bloody fragile?

“I want to meet her.” She replied, looking around.

Alarmed, I retorted, “She’s not here right now, she’s in town and she doesn’t know what we are, are you trying to mess everything up?”

Why was she messing up her own plan, was she really using the oracle to track her down and kill her?

“I just wanted to check on my favorite son, hell feels empty with you up here traipsing about. How long till this heals?” she motioned to my injuries as if they were an inconvenience to her.

“Don’t know I am not normally mortal.” I frowned. “Can you go before you blow my cover?”

“You are lucky I am preoccupied, or I would make you pay for your rudeness to me.” She sneered, her eyes swirling pinks and purples, as her purple flames surrounded her, and she was gone.

Abigail walked into the room and looked around, “Who, were you talking too?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at me.

“No one, now can you please reverse what you did to me?”

“I can if...”

“If what?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

“You leave my granddaughter alone and make yourself scarce.”

“Won’t happen.”

“Then, my stubborn boy, you will stay this way, and I suggest you keep your hands to yourself, you shouldn’t take away a person's free will. It is sick.”

I narrowed my gaze, “For my abilities to work, she has to be attracted to me on some level, so it wasn’t as devious as you may think.” I retorted, annoyed. Just because I could control people and their actions didn’t mean I could control just anyone, unlike my mother, a person had to be attracted or tied to me in some way for it to work. Where, with Hellebore, she could manipulate anyone she wanted except for Sin.

Sin was an infuriating reminder that she wasn’t all powerful and what ticked her off and more than that was, she didn’t know why he was immune to her abilities in the first place. She had spoken to oracles, fortune tellers, and even asked me to spy on him to see why he had immunity to her but never discovered it, he was a puzzle to her, and she hated puzzles.

“She may have an attraction to you, but she is not yours and she won’t be yours. It’s best if you put it to rest and move on.” Abigail remarked, as she checked my injuries and handed me more of her disgusting drink.

“I won’t give up on what is mine. I have been looking for long enough.”

She walked up to me, her beady little eyes seeming to search my soul.

“You have been broken and rebuilt in your mother's image. You need to re-break and fix what she has tainted, you are not an evil man, but you are being manipulated to do bad. Brainwashed against your own blood.”

I shiver went down my spine at her words, how the hell did she do that?

"I'm sorry she led you astray, but you need to see what is in front of you before it’s too late, she is using you. Now I must go speak with my granddaughter seems she has just learned of something quite important."

Abigail turned and left the room, leaving me to my thoughts. Was I being manipulated? Of course, I was, and I knew it but what other choice did I have, my mother killed her own husband to get her way and even plans to take out Rook, if I fail there is nothing to stop her from killing me, the black widow of hell killing everything she touches.