The Twisted Tribrid Queen

Chapter 3 - Aurora

"Mom?"

I can't believe it. She's really here, she's alive, and has been all this time. Her eyes are different, but so are mine.

"Mom?" I say again, louder this time. "What's going on? How are you here?" She doesn't say anything, she just tilts her head, staring at me curiously.

The woman sitting in front of her giggles, "Gwennie isn't really all there right now... well, the darkest parts of her are, but she's not the woman either of you remember."

My dad grips the bars of his cell tightly, "what have you done to her, Cassandra?"

She leans forward, sneering at my father, "Gwennie was always so much better at infiltrating the void than I was. As my dear mother liked to remind me every single day," she scoffs bitterly.

"So, when she showed up one night around seven years ago, I had her arrested, and I decided to continue the experiments the mother used to put us through... only I was much more successful; and now my sweet Gwennie is a vessel for the void."

She caresses my mom's arm lovingly, and I process her words; so she left me all those years ago to come back here... but why?

"Gwen," my father gets her attention, "baby, it's me. It's-"

"I know who you are." My mother's voice is hoarse and guttural, her eyes like two dark, cold pits of emptiness, and she stares at my father like he's dirt smudged on her shoes.

"Don't expect some heartfelt family reunion," her eyes dart back to me. "You'll be dead tomorrow."

Her words take a moment to sink in, I'm too distracted by her face; so familiar, and so beautiful, it sucks me back into a childhood I can barely remember.

I look at Cassandra, "You want me for my blood. Fine. But why is my father here? What else could you possibly take from me?"

My father comes back to my side, his presence bringing me comfort, and Cassandra sighs at me disappointedly, "You are a pure hybrid, a rare creature that can only be created by two exceptionally strong parents," she says as if revealing some sacred secret.

I roll my eyes, "Yeah that's what I am, good fucking job."

She clicks her tongue in annoyance, "because of what you are, your blood holds more power than any of the elements, it would make me the strongest witch in our world. But there is something that could make your blood even more potent..." she pauses, staring at my father with an evil glint in her eyes, "when the hybrid's blood is split by its givers of life, the sacrifice will hold immense power."

I just stare at her, not fully comprehending her words and she laughs, "Your parents will kill you tomorrow."

My father scoffs, "so that's why you went through so much trouble to get to my Beta... you knew I'd come for him no matter what."

"Yes, Grayson was like a little brother to you, so I used that bond to my advantage. His head is still on my kitchen floor, I'll have to get one of my men to clean him up, so the place doesn't stink of his rotten corpse when I return."

I look at my father, whose eyes are swimming with unshed tears, and place a hand on his arm, squeezing gently. He looks down at it with a sad smile, then he glares up at Cassandra, "It doesn't matter. There is nothing in this world that could possibly make me kill Aurora. I'd die first."

Cassandra laughs, "Oh, Lothar. You won't have a choice."

My father glares dangerously at her, "I thought you had changed. I thought you grew up and moved past your mothers delusions and her relentless quest for power, always more power! She was sick, Cassandra! She raised you and Gwendolyn like puppets, trained you to carry out her unhinged schemes, and filled your heads with absurd ideologies about the void and its offering of never-ending power! The void doesn't offer anything! All it does is take, corrupt, and turn you into a vessel to spread its darkness!"