Ulva

Chapter 6 - Hybrid

Magnar said something about not having food left and he and Aiden quickly departed. Bella sighed, moving to sit on the sofa. She gestured for Ceyla to do the same. When she didn't, Bella sighed and started talking anyway.

"For centuries, it was believed that the Ulva were all born with their gift. They have mates amongst themselves – no one ever had a human mate. It just didn't happen. So the Ulva bloodline continued over the years, new ones being born and taught all the time.

"The mating thing is in their instinct. One day they'll just be strolling along, happy as can be, and the next minute, BOOM. It's an unmistakable feeling. Impossible to ignore.

"Well, one member, I don't know his name, was in one of the villages, checking the perimeter. A woman came up to him to ask if he wanted a sip of water as he'd been outside for a long time and it was very hot. One look at her, and he was gone. She was his mate.

"The feelings she had for him weren't entirely the same. She was human, so she didn't have that wolf instinct towards him, but she described her feelings as 'love at first sight'. It's mushy, I know, but it's the closest thing she had to describing the bond between her and her mate.

"This had never happened before. Humans and Ulva do not mate. Naturally, the rest of the Ulva were frightened of the pair, but they agreed that keeping mates apart was cruel and almost certainly unnecessary. What threat could the human woman pose, really? The couple were married, and spent many years together in peace.

"After a few years, when they had yet to conceive a child, it was believed that human-Ulva couples were infertile. That was the accepted thought for years. But then the impossible happened, and the human woman found herself with child.

"There were a lot of questions as to what the child would be like. Would it be Ulva or human? Would it be dangerous or could they raise it to follow their teachings?

"When the baby came, it was neither human nor Ulva. She was something in between. She had Ulva eyes, but no tattoo. Eventually, she could shift, but struggled to retain her thoughts in wolf form and couldn't remember what had happened when she went back to her human form.

"The child grew up among the Ulva, and was accepted. Of course, it wasn't ideal that she couldn't remember what happened when she was a wolf, but it didn't really cause much of a problem. Until she turned thirteen, and she just lost it.

"She turned into a wolf, and went to the closest village. Not knowing who she was or what she was doing, she killed almost a hundred people in an hour. The screams alerted the Ulva, who came running, but they were too late. The entire village had been wiped out.

"Or so they thought. One man had been bitten and tossed aside, but he survived his attack. He had fled the village before the Ulva came. His wounds healed within a few days, and he found that he could shift from wolf to man. Like the original hybrid, he lost his thoughts as a wolf.

"The original hybrid was hunted down, and caught as she shifted back. She had no memory of what she'd done, but when she found out what had happened she was distraught. She escaped the Ulva castle and jumped from a cliff to die. The rocks she fell upon were so sharp that they tore her body in two.

"Since that tragedy, hybrids are forbidden. Ulva-human mates still exist, but they aren't allowed to have children. The only way hybrids still exist is through the poisoned bite of another. The second hybrid infected some people accidentally, after losing control of his wolf form, and the generations carried on from there."

Ceyla came to a sudden realisation. "So I could turn right now by accident and kill you? Bella, I'm not safe to be around." She was still angry at the three of them for what had happened to her, but they'd helped her and kept her alive when she could have been left for dead, and she didn't want to hurt them.

Bella shook her head. "The hybrids' control over themselves grew stronger as the generations went on. New hybrids were taught methods of keeping themselves under control, and they were passed down for centuries. There are lots of different methods you can use to retain yourself as a wolf. When Magnar gets back, he wants to teach you."

"What if I don't want to be taught? I don't want to be a hybrid, I didn't ask for this."

"If you refuse to be taught you're likely to 'go rogue' as the Ulva are describing it. You'll be killed within days."

Forlornly, Ceyla weighed up her options. She could either pretend that this hadn't happened, and end up hurting someone, or she could accept what she now was and get it under control. She still didn't want the life of a hybrid, but she knew she'd never forgive herself if she hurt someone the way the rogue wolves in town had hurt people, even if she was killed soon afterwards.

"Fine," she conceded. "Why have I never heard about hybrids before? They teach us about the Ulva and their history in school, so why leave out hybrids?"

"I didn't know about them either, until I became one," Bella replied. "The Ulva are concerned that if the word got out about uncontrollable wolves, people would panic."

"Well the word's getting out at the moment," Ceyla muttered. "It's going to be hard for them to cover for these attacks soon."

Bella sat up straighter, as though remembering something. "There's another thing I need to tell you. Attacks like what are happening now used to be very, very rare. Now there've been three in less than a month."

"What are you saying?" Ceyla asked.

"We think someone is making hybrids. We don't know who, or why they're doing it, but hybrid numbers are on the rise."

Ceyla began to wonder something, very suddenly. "Who made me?"

"I'm sorry, we don't know."

"So it wasn't one of you three?" Bella shook her head in response to Ceyla's question. All of a sudden, Ceyla felt a certain loss. She imagined the questions running through her mind as those similar to what a child given up for adoption might ask. Though she knew her parents, she wanted to know who made her this way, and why. And, if what Bella was saying was true and someone was making hybrids intentionally, why didn't they come back for her? Surely it was their responsibility to teach her, not Magnar's.

It was while she was thinking about this that Magnar and Aiden returned, carrying several shopping bags between them.

"It's so hot out there," Aiden complained, glancing to the window where the sun was still shining through. The island had gone almost a month without rain.

Magnar wasn't so focussed on small talk. "Have you told her?" he asked Bella. She nodded yes. "Ceyla, come on. I need to teach you to control yourself before you start posing a danger to us."