Discovering Madison

Prologue

Madison

My name is Madison Amelia Shadows-Moonheart, well that's what my birth certificate says but I dropped the Shadows part when I was twelve years old. Shadows is my biological mothers last name and she is nothing but pure evil. She is the Leader of the Obsidian Shadows Coven, the famous Rosalie Shadows most feared Dark Witch of her generation. You would think that her being my mother that she would love me and treat me the way any mother should but you would be wrong, very wrong. You see, unlike my older sisters who are pure Witches like my mother, I am a Hybrid, half Witch half Wolf. Our Dad is a Wolf and I get that half from him which infuriates my mother to no end, the one thing she hates above all else is Hybrids of any kind. She calls us abominations and believes we should all be eradicated from this world and she needs to be the one to do it. Why hasn't she killed me you ask? well you're not the only one who asks that, I ask myself that everyday. I even asked her once why she hadn't killed me and she said;

'Even though I despise you you are useful right now when that use runs out I'll kill you dead'.

What she means by useful is I'm useful as a conduit for her spells and I'm full of power she can syphon when she needs an extra boost. I'm also used as a slave but I'm not the only one she has many slaves, almost as many as she has prisoners. We are not treated well, we barely get any food or water and the prisoners never leave the cells.

I live in the cells with my Dad, I got shoved down here on my twelfth birthday when I woke up and shifted into my wolf, my dad has been stuck down here since the day after he found out my mother was his mate. My mother was horror struck when she found out they were mates knowing she herself could produce a Hybrid, the thing she hates most in the world but that didn't stop her sleeping with him, although she never fully completed the mate bond as she refused to let my dad mark her. After 23 years of being locked up and used as either a sex object or punching bag my dad is a happy soul and loves all his children even if three of them don't love him back and never visit him. My sisters Lily Daisy and Poppy despise our dad like my mother does. They are all carbon copies of her from the looks right down to the arrogance that they deserve the world. They like my mother beat and torment me and have done for as long as I can remember and for all sorts of reasons. They beat me because i'm a hybrid, they beat me because i don't look like they do, they use spells on me to make me clumsy or forgetful so my mother then beats me or uses spells on me, they go around after me when i'm doing my chores and mess everything up so i have to do it again or i get a beating. It's their favourite thing to do other than beating me awake. They love to play that game.

Today started like every other day of my life. I was unceremoniously woken up from another weird dream by my sister Lily dumping a jug of freezing cold water over me and demanding I get up and make her breakfast.

She stormed out of my cell slamming the door but not locking it. I get up off my mattress and remove the piece of fabric I had covering it as a makeshift sheet and shake it off trying to remove as much water as I could. I then did the same with the other one I used to cover myself, I hung them both over the bars of my cell then stood my mattress up against the wall. It's the only way it would dry before tonight, this is not the first time one of my so-called sisters have woken me up like this and I'm getting to be a dab hand at ensuring my things would dry out properly and in time. I then grab my uniform which consists of an old maids type dress with some old shoes. I was given nothing else by my mother and told to live with it. I'm lucky though I do have undergarments because Thalia our Librarian got them for me. I then get dressed and ring out my t-shirt and shorts and hang them up as well. I grab my comb and run it through my hair. I don't have a mirror or even a wash basin. All I have is a toilet in the corner of my cell. Once I was done I went over to the cell opposite mine and looked through the bars.

'Morning Daddy, how are you feeling after last night?' I asked him as my mother had ordered him beaten because he refused to sleep with her again.

'I'm ok my girl, don't worry the potion Thalia gave me is helping' he replied weakly, not stopping me from worrying one bit.

'Rest today try not to move around and I'll be back later to check on you ok'

'Ok little one stay out of trouble ok. I love you.'

'I'll try but you know I don't even have to do anything and I'm in trouble and I love you too' I say then leave.

As I pass the next cell I check on the young girl who was thrown in there 2 and a half weeks ago. She was curled up in the smallest ball in the corner of the cell silently crying. I felt so bad for her. The cell floor was covered in salt and she was bound in Iron not silver which tells me she isn't a shifter but a Fae and I have no idea why my mother would need one or what use she could be to her. I asked Thalia why they used salt and Iron and she explained that the Iron removed their power and the Salt made them sick.

Thalia has taught me everything I know. Thalia is this person I wish was my mother. She is the most amazing person and has a heart of gold.

I thought Thalia was my mother until I was 5 as Thalia was the only person I ever saw, she took care of me, fed me, nurtured me but my mother removed her from my life and my mother took over.

I had a not so bad existence between the ages of 5 and 12 but since then my life has been horrible. The first time my mother used me as a magical conduit was the day after my twelfth birthday and I nearly died. My mother tried to pull too much power from me too soon and my whole body shut down. She just shoved me back into my cell and told my father if I lived I lived but she didn't care either way and walked out while my dad was still screaming at her. But not five minutes after my mother left the cells Thalia arrived and saved my life, so if it wasn't for Thalia I would be dead right now instead of going into the lion's den for yet another day.

I head out of the cells and up the stairs into the courtyard then make my way across to the kitchens. Once there I wash my hands and get started making breakfast not only for my sister but for the whole coven which currently comprises over 2000 members. There are some who hate the way my mother runs the coven and would do anything to leave but it's difficult to get past the charms and spells surrounding this place. Members with mates from other species have to reject them or they are killed. Only certain members are permitted to leave but now I'm eighteen I plan to do just that. I'm leaving as soon as I have the things I need and once I'm out of here I'm coming back with a bunch of new friends to take my mother out permanently. How do I know that you may wonder well I saw it in a dream, I saw myself fighting alongside a magnificent Wolf/Vampire Hybrid and a Magical Fae Princess with a massive army at our backs full of wolves, Vampires and Fae warriors and we take down my mother once and for all and I cannot wait to find them I just need to get out of here first. I just need to have a little more patience and try to stay alive long enough.