Halfblood Bennett

Chapter 3

 Kore loved being in the home of her mother but she hated that the home was in Mystic Falls. The place was designed to make Bennett witches miserable. The second ceremony took a lot out of her. She summoned her mother's spirit from the Underworld. She wasn't able to talk. Just listen. A part of the ceremony. Bonnie looked shocked. "I've never seen magic like this. Can you hear me?" Bonnie asked the spectre. Grams nodded. "Are you okay?" She nodded again. Kore walked into the new ritual room in a completely black hooded robe.

"Momma, thank you for taking time from your peace to join us." She took apple brandy and a plate of donuts inside the circle. She was able to consume it there, "We come here to say everything we haven't said. To make our peace so that we can move on with our lives." They sat there for hours. Kore gave Bonnie some time alone.

"I'm so sorry. I really am." Sheila couldn't do anything but nod. "I should've looked for another way. I should've asked what the spell really took. I didn't know. I wouldn't have done it if I knew. I'd rather we just have killed Damon." Sheila chuckled but no sound came out. "I'm gonna miss you so much." Sheila seemed to be mouthing something but Bonnie didn't understand.

"You done?" Kore asked when she came in.

"Yes. Are you?"

"I'll be out in a few minutes. Why don't you put the pastistio in the oven?" she suggested. She'd made it earlier that day. Bonnie nodded. She enjoyed the meals over the past couple of days. Kore looked to her mother. "She's a nice girl. A little lost but a nice girl. I'm sorry, Momma. I'm sorry this happened to you. You should've called me. Why didn't you call me? I never should've left you for so long. I love you so much. More than anyone in this world." Sheila said she was sorry. She mouthed the words and Kore could only nod as tears fell down. "I'll see you the next time I come home. It won't be the same. But I'll see you."

Kore was sad for days afterwards. Then one day there was a big white box that appeared on the porch. She opened it and inside were three Cane Corso looking puppies with gold eyes. Then she picked them up to see it wasn't actually three puppies. They were filled with magic. Once she brought the pups inside, they were absorbed into one three headed puppy. "Oh, Big Baby!" She went to the ground to play with her five year old Cerberus. Her father's dog had only three one headed puppies that combined into one.

Bonnie came home to see the three headed dog. "Seriously? What is that thing?"

"This is Dumas. Or as I like to call him, Big Baby. Because he's my big baby!" she cuddled her dog.

"How are you going to walk that thing? Where did you even get it?"

"It was a present from my father three years ago. Dumas is still a puppy because magically he's meant to last for hundreds even thousands of years. Also, separate, Dumas," she said to the dog. The dog jumped down and one version of itself leaped one way and another leaped the other way until there were three dogs. "You can call them Athos, Porthos, and Aramis."

"Where are those names from?"

"Are you serious? What do schools teach? What did my mother teach you? You've never read the Three Musketeers?"

"Isn't that for guys?"

"Three attractive French soldiers with wit and charm? I suppose I can see why men would like it but totally written with women in mind. One of my favorite books."

"So you mentioned your father gave him to you. Where does a person get a three headed dog?"

"From another three headed dog. See animals get pregnant then they have babies-" Bonnie started laughing.

"Grams gave me that speech already. She was drunk. But she did give it to me. But who is he?"

"I will tell you when I can trust you not to go running to your little friends. I don't trust them."

"But they're actually really nice."

"I really don't care. I don't like that they're part of the reason my mother is dead. And I don't like that they use you as if you are their witch. It will only get worse."

Bonnie couldn't take no for an answer. She decided to look up the three headed dog. Only one person, well not a person, was known for having one. She stormed back into the house that night. "Is your Dad somehow Hades?" Kore looked shocked, "Wait, it is?"

"How did you-"

"I just researched. Turns out it really isn't that hard. Shame I get so many C's."

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

"But can we just get back to the whole your Dad being Hades thing? Grams had sex with Hades?"

"Persephone too. Like a lot. They're probably having sex right now," Kore said easily and Bonnie grimaced.

"So she's with them right now?"

"In the Underworld of my father,"

"So your father is really a god?" Kore sighed, hoping Bonnie would keep the new information to herself.

"He's really a god. Please don't tell your friends. It's not something I share and to be quite honest with you I would be willing to kill them to keep my secret." Bonnie's eyes widened. Then squinted.

"I can never tell whether you're being serious or not."

"I'm being serious. I've spent the last sixteen years in the underworld surrounded by gods. My father is literally a god of death. Do you know how often humans die? Even vampires? Too many to care about. Every second. So I don't really care for human life. Now cruelty is something I cannot abide by. But to protect my life and my family, hundreds of humans could die. And I could do it quickly. With no remorse."

"I can imagine."

Kore settled into Mystic Falls and Bonnie had to adjust to having true parental supervision around. The first thing she did was improve Bonnie's grades and study habits. She used magic to talk to her teachers but she did want a legal way. She'd reached out to Rudy but had yet to hear back. Meanwhile, she had other plans. Bonnie came home two weeks from the funeral and the coffee table was covered in college brochures. "What's this about?" she asked her aunt as she put her bag down on the large chair.

"I want you to pick two places. We'll visit them over winter break," Kore gestured to the table as she sat on the couch.

"What's wrong with Whitmore?" Bonnie asked, "And isn't this a little early? I'm only a junior."

"That's the time to make decisions. And now that my mother's dead, Whitmore is no longer the place for you. Mother didn't go to Whitmore. She went to Howard. I went to Columbia."

"You went to college?" Kore didn't like how surprised she was.

"University. And yes. And you will too." Kore laid back and lit a cigarette to go with her cup of tea.

"Is that why you've been so hard on me lately? I've never studied this much in my life."

"Bonnie, have you seen your transcript? You'll need to get all A's for the next year and a half. I don't understand why mother wasn't harder on you." She shook her head.

"Was she hard on you?"

"I didn't go to normal school. I went to a boarding type place for people like me." "There's more people like you?"

"Different parents but yes. There's more. We go to a place and live and train to basically be entertainment for our parents. I lasted four years before I left. Then I took the equivalency exam. In Greek. Then I went to college. But I'll get you back on track."