Hopelessly Devoted

Epilogue III: Wicked

"I want you to know first and foremost that your father loves you." Alyssa couldn't fight the eye roll causing Harlow to chuckle. "I'm serious, darling. Holden loves you more than anything in the world and underworld." She pinned him with a glare. "If he loves me so much, where the fuck is he?" 

"Oop!" Harlow said before looking elsewhere. "What do you know about your mother's side of the family?" Alyssa didn't know why but it felt like a trick question. "Why do you want to know? Are you going to hurt them because they're human?" 

Harlow burst out laughing. "Chile, them niggas ain't human!" Henry pinned her with a glare causing her to fold her lips in. "What are you talking about?" Alyssa asked confusedly. "What is she talking about?" Henry sighed before unearthing a truth he knew would further shatter his niece's view of her growingly complicated family.

"Alicia Pierre, along with all Pierre's and their descendants are sirens." Alyssa's mouth was agape, her eyebrows furrowed. It was truly a comical sight and Harlow fought the urge to kick her feet and cackle. 

"A what now?!" Henry gave her a small smile. "A siren." Alyssa waved her hands in front of her in an attempt to gain some control. "A siren. Like the bitches that sing to sailors and then eat them." Harlow rolled her eyes. "That's what He wanted people to believe. Sirens are quite beautiful and wholesome. I honestly think I have some siren in me, but zero clue as to how or who I got that skillset from."

Alyssa was stunned. She didn't want to know who 'He' was. She just wanted the facts about her origin story. Henry took a breath and tried to channel his late wife. She always knew how to get to people, especially amid a crisis. He always felt her need for balance as a witch and her need for healing as an angel made the perfect pairing. 

"How do you feel when you sing?" Henry finally asked. Alyssa thought on it and just smiled. "Weightless." Henry hummed a response. "Has anyone told you that your voice moved them unlike anything they've experienced?" Alyssa furrowed her eyebrows but eventually nodded. "Has anyone on your maternal side sang to or near you?" Alyssa nodded her head once more as everything started to make sense.

"You understand music in a way ordinary people can't. You hear beyond the vocal arrangements. You feed off the emotion projected. You, my darling Alyssa, are half siren." 

Alyssa found herself further shocked by each new piece of information that came to light. But nothing could have prepared her for the bombshell her uncle dropped – she was a siren.

The realization washed over her like a tidal wave, crashing against the shores of her consciousness with undeniable force. She couldn't deny the truth of it, not when she looked back on every moment she had ever sung, every note that had elicited a reaction from those around her. It all made sense now.

Sirens – beings of myth and legend, creatures meant for folklore and fairy tales – were real, and Alyssa was one of them. It should have been a cause for anxiety, for fear of the unknown, but instead, she found herself strangely at peace.

Her mind drifted to her maternal family, to the women who had come before her, all sirens in their own right. The revelation bound them together in a way she had never imagined, a shared heritage that transcended the boundaries of time and space.

In that moment of clarity, Alyssa felt a sense of belonging wash over her, a deep-seated understanding that she was not alone, that she was part of something greater than herself. And as she embraced her newfound identity, she found solace in the knowledge that she was connected to her family in ways she had never dared to imagine.

Despite the uncertainty that still lingered on the horizon, Alyssa couldn't help but feel a sense of hope stirring within her. For the first time in her life, she was starting to know who she was, and she was ready to embrace her true persona, whatever it may bring.