Deviant (Blendling Trilogy #1)

Chapter Six

Once again we sat around the kitchen table in a sombre mood on a birthday morning. Unlike last time, it was my mum doing the panicking and Gerry, the consoling. Gerry smoothed down mum's hair and murmured reassurances into her ears while Cam watched. I hated to break their hearts the way I was about to, but it couldn't be helped. I was ready for whatever consequences my news brought. With a sigh, I began
"My night terrors aren't just figments of my imagination like we all believe. They are horrors my father performs" they started talking at once
"I don't understand" Cam said
"Your father is dead" Gerry said
"Malcolm was a gentle soul. He'd never hurt anyone" mum finished. I nodded and continued
"I mean my birth father, Roarke Parker" I saw comprehension dawn, followed immediately by dread and horror
"It can't be" mum denied in tears
"He's a monster" Gerry said and Cam nodded
"It doesn't change anything" I whisper, continuing "I remember a lot. Even some things he did before he took my mum. I remember her too" I whisper looking at mum's tear streaked face "You'll always be my mum in all ways that count. But she loved me too. She escaped captivity when she was two months pregnant with me. She'd been among a band of hunters sent by the Supreme Council to destroy the Reaper" I choked up, I couldn't bring myself to call him my father again. "But he killed them instead and kidnapped my mum, raping and torturing her.

"She plotted her escape for weeks and took the first chance she got. He used to bring her bloody parts as tokens of his greatness and her uselessness but one day she challenged him to a contest. He loved to be superior and took her along for a hunt to prove he was better. While he was distracted, ripping the fangs off a young vampire, she knocked him unconscious and ran away.
"She was a lion shifter but couldn't go back to her pride because she knew they'd kill once they discovered her pregnancy. So she went on the run, never staying more than a week in a place. She stayed long enough to earn enough money to run again. She didn't know if he hunted her but she never stayed long enough to find out." I paused and looked up. Gerry got up to fetch me a glass of water and I drank it gratefully. I didn't know I was thirsty until then.

"He finally caught up with her and killed her" I didn't go into the details of how. "He'd hoped I'd die in her womb but I didn't. I'd grown enough to have come into some of my powers. One of them was control over the elements. The fire that killed her kept me alive, and the air gave me breath when her corpse was brought out. That's why I didn't die. It had nothing to do with being a fire elemental, I'm an elemental among other things because of the abilities I inherited from him."
"What are you?" Cam asked. Mum had stopped crying and Gerry just watched
"I guess you can say I'm like you, a Blendling. He was a Blended and she was Changeling" I replied
"But you're more?" Mum ventured. I could tell she hoped I wasn't. I sighed
"Yes mum, I'm more"
"Are you like him? Do you possess all Odda strengths?" Gerry asked
"I'm nothing like him. He killed to possess the powers but I was born with them in my blood. I've always had them, I just didn't acknowledge them. I was told as a child that I was a fire elemental and I believed. That's why I never noticed the other powers, like the one I used on Macy"
"Macy? I don't understand?" Cam said
"How'd you make her suicidal?" Mum asked in confusion
"She was obsessed with me" I said
"We know that" Gerry ventured
"A part of me is an incubus" I said. Cam frowned, mum gasped, Gerry shuddered
"What else can you do" Mum asked
"I guess if I concentrated enough, I can do everything" I said with a shrug
"But that would mean you're invincible" mum whispered
"I can make myself invincible but I'm not invincible. I can be killed" I didn't say how "Plus I can only use an ability if I concentrated on it. When the Macy ish happened, I was determined to get laid" I said, blushing "I guess that ability just kicked in"
"Oh" mum said. Hearing I was near indestructible had lightened her mood
"So do you have wings like me" Cam asked. I nodded, he smiled
"Why didn't you transition like other Blendlings?" Gerry asked
"Because his genes are fucked up. There's nothing normal about me" I said
"You're still my baby and I love you regardless" mum said. She got up to hug me
"There's more" I said. She looked into my eyes sadly "If I use too much of my abilities, my core will burn out and I'll die" I whispered. Mum whimpered and hugged me tighter
"So don't use them" Cam said as if it wasn't obvious. Gerry nodded
"Now that I know about them, I'll always be curious. I'd be tempted to experiment" I said
"You'll fight the impulse" mum enthused. "You'll not die. Baby promise me you'll be careful" I nodded to appease her
"But there has to be a way he can use some, I mean what good is having all Odda strengths without using them?" Cam asked "I mean the Reaper uses his"
"The only way to use them is to do what he does" they looked at me not comprehending. I sighed "The only way is if I kill someone to steal their core before mine burns out." They gasped
"Power is addictive. It would require great strength to stop using once you start."  Gerry said
"Promise me you won't use them" mum whispered "My son will not become like the Reaper, promise me." she cried.
"I promise mum" I said smiling. I wanted to make her proud but I knew that I had already failed. I could feel the decay in my core from my previous years playing fire elemental. I knew I only had few months left.