Midnight Mates

A Mother's Love

*Luke's PoV*

Viola lit the candles in a ritualistic manner, before settling in and grabbing my free hand, and Mama's other hand. Vincent and Alex were settled in between us. We sat in a perfect circle, and in the dark with my mother's face illuminated by the candles, she looked eerily young.

"What now?" I asked.

"Shush," Viola and Mama said at the same time. I grumbled and shut my mouth. Before long, Mama's eyes flew open, but they were that cloudy crystalline blue that I remembered seeing often as a child.

"You're looking for Aries, are ya?" Her hollow voice asked. Viola and I shared a look.

Aries was a girl who we had gone to school with. Our very own hometown witch. Viola had befriended her, and I dated her for a little bit before I found out she was crazy. She would do spells for you, but the price she offered was a high one. Her spells were karmic, which meant that if Farmer Pete asked for a good harvest that particular season, she would make the crops barren the following year.

"Yes..." Viola said. Mama nodded and her eyes rolled back into her head.

"The girl of light and dark, will lead to finality,

But be warned of her malevolent personality,

This adventure will surely end in a fatality."

"I really hate it when she does that," I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Okay... so what does that mean?" Vincent asked. Mama's eyes returned to their normal green.

"How in the hell should I know?" She asked, in the sassy manner she usually did.

"So... thanks," I said curtly, dropping her hand.

"I-I know this doesn't make up for everything--"

"No. It doesn't. And I still want to know what you meant," I said, catching and holding her gaze. Her tough exterior crumbled like a piece of paper in the water.

"Fair enough. Lucas, when you were born, I had already known your father was a werewolf. I had tried not falling in love with him, because I Saw it all. I Saw the first time he changed, and the time he... ate a person, right down to the moment the hunters knocked on our door." My blood ran cold.

"Hunters?" Mama folded her hands in her lap.

"Yes. For every thing out there that's not human, you can bet your ass there's a hunter willin' to kill it." Alex's expression darkened, and Vincent kept an eye on him.

"That night, they came by the house. You and Viola weren't more than fifteen... They pounded on the door and I'll never forget, because your father shot me this look. Like he knew. We had moved all the way out here, because of the 'incident'. And they found us. That was the day he... And I had to tell you to go. They didn't know we had children, so for you to be safe you had to go."

"Dammit, Mama! That's why you drop your kid off with a friend, or - or somethin'!"

"Darlin', all my friends live in the city."

I stood abruptly, bumping the table, and I whirled away from.

"Well what the hell, Ma?! You could've explained it to me! You could've done more than scream at me! You- you could've..." I looked at Viola.

"I'll be in the car." I turned and stomped away from the house, planting myself firmly in the passenger seat. Vincent and Alex followed.

"I'm sorry, Luke," Alex said, shooting me a look with his stupid puppy dog eyes. It was so hard to stay angry at him.

"...thanks."

Viola stormed over and whipped open the driver's door. She angrily shoved the keys into the ignition, and stomped on the gas.

"Viola, can you stop having angry sex with the car?" I asked. Viola shot me a death glare.

"Can YOU quit being a little bitch so we can hurry up and find Aries?" She shot back. My jaw dropped and Vincent and Alex held in laughter and snorts from the backseat.

"You're so insensitive..." I pouted. She didn't respond. Alex cleared his throat from the backseat.

"Hey guys? Um, I just got a text from Daren. He says that Ren's really sick, so we need to hurry and finish our part of the job."

"Shouldn't we drop what we're doing and go back to help?" Vincent asked. Alex shook his head.

"No... Daren said that we should go along with the spell anyway, since I think they're bringing in a special healer."

"A special healer? Jesus, what's Rabbit gotten into?" I asked to no one in particular. I stared at Viola who was chewing her lip thoughtfully, her brow sweaty and creased. I thought about it, and realized that she's been the one consistent person in my life. The one I would turn to first in an emergency.

"Hey, Viola?"

"Yeah?" She responded, honking at the car in front of her.

"Um, I'm really glad you're my sister."

"Not just your sister. Your twin," she corrected without skipping a beat.

"Seriously? I'm trying to be sentimental!" She smiled.

"I know. I love you too, Luke. Now let's go find that witch bitch."