Mama Bear (Part II)

Fiona sat in her studio alone painting. She hadn’t been sleeping, her body exhausted, but her mind on overdrive. She looked at the image in front of her and tried her best to hold in a scream. Another painting of Fabian, lately it was hard to get him from her mind. "AHHHH!” She shouted in anger, breaking it in half.

"That won’t stop you from thinking about him you know.” She jumped hearing the voice. Eva walked from out the shadows and arched her brow, "Now it makes sense.”

"What does?”

Eva smirked, "One brown, one blue. Fabian says it all the time. You’re also as beautiful as he told me you were.” Fiona eyed the floor not wanting Eva to see her face flush.

"Do you know who I am?”

She nodded. "Eva Trevino. I’ve read a lot of your books. You’re one of my favorite authors.”

Eva smiled brightly, "That means a lot.” Hearing the door, Eva turned and smiled.

“FI! WHAT’S WRONG? WE GOT A MESSAGE-” Charlee’s words stopped as she saw Eva.

"Come on in you three, everything’s fine…sort of. But I think we should have a chat.” The three other women entered the room and Eva turned to Fiona. "Could you get us a few comfortable chairs? I think we might be here for a little while.” Silently nodding, she left, and Eva turned to the others. "Now, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Charlee and Fiona- let's see.” She pointed, "Fiery redhead who kicked my son’s ass. Willow.” Willow didn’t want to smile, but she liked Eva immediately. "It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too. I love your work.”

Eva grinned. Turning to Desiree, her smile widened. "I watch you on YouTube! Desiree McCoy, I’m honored.”

Desiree's eyes widened, "Really?! Oh wow…that’s…I’m honored too. Like everyone already said, I am OBSESSED with your stories.” The two shared a laugh, as Fiona brought the chairs out for everyone to take a seat. Eva clasped her hands in her lap. "Now, I know that all of you are being kind to me out of admiration and perhaps slight fear, but I want to first assure you that whatever you think I could potentially do to harm you, I would never attempt.” The four looked around to one another but remained silent. "I was human once, and I know exactly how you feel.”

"YOU’RE NOT HUMAN?!” Fiona blurted out, and Eva laughed.

"Honey, you don’t continue to look like you’re in your early thirties if you’re human. Doesn’t matter what type of surgery you get.”

Charlee rubbed the back of her neck, "I-I always wondered why you never seemed to age…and how you could have a son that looks so-” Her face reddened, and Eva laughed again.

"Oh, my goodness! Callum turns just as red whenever Alaric mentions you. It’s like his father’s favorite pastime. See how red he can make Callum.” Sitting around the women, Eva could understand immediately why her sons were so enamored with them. The aura surrounding them, was both light and heavy, much like her sons, much like hers and Alaric. "How about you ask the question, you’re dying to ask.”

Desiree cleared her throat, "Wh-what are you all?”

Eva shrugged. Taking out the book, she flipped to the first page, "Alaric is by far his father’s most troubled son. Created to take over the heavens, his once white wings blackened as his true nature formed. He is known for his propensity of drinking blood, feeding off sexual dream energy, and partaking in sadistic forms of torture both for sexual gratification and barbaric torment. Often mistaken for his brother, he is in fact the eldest, most powerful, his very essence being a mixture of all things. Angelic, demonic, vampiric… there is no such correct label to explain what he is though for most he is addressed as simply… Something Wicked.” Looking up, she saw all of their wide eyes looking back at her.

"I thought that just a part of your book.” Desiree dared to state.

"Something Wicked is based loosely on Alaric and me. Some of the details were changed because-let’s just say writing it would have raised suspicions about somethings that were buried.”

"Like what?” Fiona asked.

She folded her arms to her chest, "Like the day I wrote in the book for Alaric to kill my previous husband.” Deafening silence landed around the studio and she chuckled, "If it makes you feel any better, he beat the hell out of me for YEARS. And now, here I am with a man who would die before he raised a hand to me.” She turned to Willow, "That’s why you’re kicking yourself, isn’t it? The fact that you watched Waylon turn into a *beast* right before your eyes…and yet…you still want him? You still completely trust that he would never hurt you.”

Willow's lips parted, and her eyes glassed over, Eva gave her a small smile. "Honey, let me give you some honesty. Waylon has been through A LOT and while I’m not going to tell you the part of his scars that he should himself, I will say that his anger is the driving force that led to a lot of it. It’s his vice, BUT he would NEVER harm someone he cares about but on the flip of that, he’s deathly protective of them too.”

Willow thought back to the night that burned itself forever in her mind. She mumbled low, "I thought I should have been afraid of him…but I wasn’t. I was thankful and that scared me. What kind of fucked of person is thankful for something like that?”

Eva nodded, "The same kind of person who can look at a supernatural being and still find themselves attracted and wanting to be with them.”

Willow bit her bottom lip. Waylon was in fact the most attractive man she’d ever seen and getting to know him in the short time they had, made him even more attractive to her. Even after everything, she still found herself looking for him at the gym and feeling a twinge of disappointment when he didn’t show.

Eva folded her arms to her chest. "Each of my sons has a version their father’s powers…and his vices but each one has one vice that is more concentrated in them than the others. It's what drives their power. For example, they can all have tempers, but Waylon’s can be volatile and because of this, he works overtime to manage it with sports, therapy, and MMA.” She smiled, "He’s the only one that can turn into that enormous war machine.” She smirked, “Just like all of us feed on blood and sexual energy, but Alaric and Fabian can ONLY get nourishment from it. The rest of us can partake in regular food and be just fine.” She turned to Fiona who avoided her eyes. "He bit you didn’t he?”

She nodded, "It was terrifying.”

Eva arched her brow, "Which part?”

"What do you mean?! The part where HE BIT ME!”

Eva laugh turned into a cackle. "Then why have you been craving his bite since he did it?”

Fiona’s eyes widened. "H-how did you know that?”

"Because I’m the same way. Another thing about myself that scared me, because I couldn’t understand how I could want something like that…but I enjoy it and I enjoy-” She bared her fangs, "Biting Alaric. I mean have you seen him?”

Her infectious laughter made them laugh. They couldn’t understand what it was about Eva that made their very unusual conversation, feel like regular girl talk. Fiona rubbed the area of her neck that was now healed, but a constant reminder of what happened. The extreme orgasm she had during his bite had thrown her for a loop, still, she was afraid, he almost killed her. As if Eva could read her thoughts, she sighed,

"I need to be honest with you all. The day my sons revealed their powers was not of their own will. They had no control over the way they were shown, only that they were to be shown.”

"Who would do something like that and why?” Fiona asked for all of them.

Eva shook her head. 'Again, that’s not something I can tell you, but I need you to know that they truly never meant to hurt you, which is also why they haven’t been around. As far as they’re concerned, they’re monsters to you. They scare you, and they care too much to make you feel that way again.”

Fiona placed her hand to her chest, the hurt on Fabian’s face coming into view.

*“Something that shouldn’t be around you."*

She quickly wiped her tears.

Eva shifted her attention to Charlee. "Why didn’t you return the money?” Charlee’s eyes turned to the size of plates. "Don’t worry, I’m not judging you. I wouldn’t have either. I just want to know why YOU didn’t.”

Charlee knew. But to say it, would mean to admit what she wasn’t ready to. She breathed in deep. "H-he was there to help me. Callum was winning and it was fair, and it was them who started everything! And I just keep thinking, how in his twisted way he was just trying to help.”

"He’s like his father.”

"What do you mean?”

“He has the most magic. We can heal, and do some things but Callum, like Alaric, can snap and make anything happen. But he-like his father likes for things to be on a fair playing field. If he gets caught doing something, he takes the consequences because for him, that’s the price for losing. He has very strong magic, draws most people to him but with people as with anything, he makes sure the playing field stays fair.”

Charlee's throat dried. The slight daze she felt whenever she got close to Callum now suddenly made sense. He was like his own version of the joker, and it would be a lie if she said she didn’t find it attractive. Not only that, but she could also feel that his heart was genuinely good, and that was what attracted her the most.

Eva shook her head, knowing Declan would be the hardest to explain. "Desiree?”

"Yes…”

“How do you feel about what you now know about Declan?”

Desiree looked down to the ground, "I don’t know.”

Eva tilted her head. “Are you sure? If not, that’s okay, but I’m good at reading people.”

Desiree looked up, "I don’t care. I mean I CARE but even then… it more shocked me than scared me. He looked so sad when he realized I knew and I wanted to tell him that I didn’t care, but I-I just couldn’t find the words.” She wiped her tears, "I REALLY like Declan. And I don’t care if that makes me a fucked-up person because it also makes me an honest one. He’s literally the embodiment of the work that kept me sane…that kept me true to myself and seeing him like that… it should have terrified me more, but it didn’t.”

Eva smiled at her. "You are just what he needs. I thought I would have to sit here and explain how things are and why he’s different than his brothers, but I know now I don’t have to. I know that you want to hear it from him, understand him, and as his mother, that makes me very happy.” She looked around. "I think you all deserve an explanation, and then, you can truly decide if this is what you want. Because this is who my sons are. They aren’t human. What you saw is their true forms and I refuse to encourage them to be with anyone who can fully accept the true them.” She stood. "Now, as far as I’m concerned, I wasn’t here.” She chuckled, "But if and when you want to talk to them…just call them.”

Willow scrunched her face, "Why do I feel like you’re not talking about on the telephone.”

Eva laughed and winked at her before vanishing from the studio.